


Starless Eyes (Book 1)

by cherrypotatoes1



Series: Starless Eyes [1]
Category: SB19 (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Scientists, Alternate Universe - Vampire, F/M, Vampire Hunters, Vampires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-27
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-18 12:46:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 33
Words: 21,481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29734086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cherrypotatoes1/pseuds/cherrypotatoes1
Summary: Summary:In an alternate universe, Sejun is a vampire. He then meets Pau, an aspiring scientist who vowed to eliminate his kind.They fall in love with each other, but what comes next?This is just your common vampire story…Is it?
Series: Starless Eyes [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2185350
Comments: 2
Kudos: 1





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> For Story Updates  
> @starlesseyes.story on IG

1.  
Sejun’s POV

I may not see what’s around me at this very moment, but I can feel that my motionless body was lying in loose soil.   
A layer of cloth is protecting my face from the soil that’s slowly covering me.   
Little by little, it dawned unto me that I’m being buried.   
Alive.

I almost laughed when I realized that they’re burying me without safety precautions.   
No escape-proof coffin, no hand-cuffs, not even a stake at the heart.   
Just a shallow hole in the ground.   
Then I remembered, I was sedated. 

I’m conscious, but can’t feel anything.   
I’m alive but I'm not breathing.   
I’m a vampire after all. 

Not too long, as the soil continued to cover me I can feel the parts of my body aching.   
I can now feel the pressure of the soil above me.   
I can feel it crushing my bones.   
Then a sudden rush of vibrations coursed through my body.   
I can now move my hands and feet. 

Automatically, I started digging my way out of the grave.   
As I removed the last chunks of soil covering my face, the moon welcomed me back with its light.   
Even if the night clouds veil the moon, it’s just as beautiful.   
Just like her.

I looked around me.   
I’m standing on an empty field;  
This must have been the facility graveyard.  
Is this where all her failed test subjects go?   
Is this where guys like me go?  
Am I just really one of her experiments?  
Silly me.   
How dense could I get just for her?   
I tried to step forward but my knees just gave up.   
It seems like the sedatives started to wear off.   
I’m now starting to feel the pain from digging out of my grave.   
I can also feel the pain from the needle holes on the side of my neck. 

Moreover,  
I felt the thirst.   
Thirst for blood.  
Thirst to kill...

***

Though still limping, I started to survey the area and look for my first prey.   
From my spot, I can see a makeshift tent.   
One, two, three, and four.  
Four people.  
Slowly, l started to walk towards the feast.


	2. Chapter 2

2.  
Sejun’s POV

“I realized, maybe, you’re not too bad after all…”   
She smiled. That was one time where stars appeared in her eyes.  
The vision stopped as I dropped one of my prey.  
He was the fourth one.   
He held his bleeding neck and started running.  
His scared eyes still fixed towards the bloody mess that I am. 

I stumbled at my own feet, trying to shake off the vision from my mind.  
“Not too bad”, I told myself.  
I just killed three innocent people tonight just to quench my thirst. 

How bad do you want me to be?  
I asked myself.  
How bad could I get?  
Can you handle me at my worst?  
Are you prepared for my vengeance?  
I have come back from the dead.   
And I will take you home with me,  
To the place where you and me belong...  
To hell.

I can clearly remember those starless eyes staring back at me.  
While I was lying still on that bed, motionless like the dead.  
All the hurt I’ve gone through for a lifetime wouldn’t match the agony of being lied to.  
Can you handle my revenge?

My eyes started to get watery but I fought them back.   
I licked the blood from my mouth and held myself together.

I walked inside the makeshift tent to look for valuable information about the facility and, of course, her.  
While scrolling through the scattered folders and notes inside the tent, I saw a small parcel.  
Written in blue marker was her name, Pau R. and specially, her address.  
Gotcha!


	3. Chapter 3

3.  
Pau’s POV

I was past midnight when I looked outside.  
It was an unusually dark night,  
A Waning Crescent Moon.  
It’s partially covered by clouds.  
It was also a starless night.   
I like it better that way.

It may sound dangerous for someone living alone, like me, but I leave my windows open before I sleep.   
Having the moon peering inside my room is like having someone guarding you while you were sleeping.  
It makes me feel safe and calm.

I lay on my bed, closed my eyes and tried to sleep.   
However, something feels odd.   
The curtains covering my windows violently crashed on the floor as if someone flung them there.  
I stood up, snatched the shears placed on my bedside table and walked towards the curtains. 

My heart was hammering inside my chest.  
My knees are trembling.   
I have encountered thieves before but this one, it’s inexplicably different. 

I let out a sigh of relief when I saw that the curtain bolts just broke.   
Nothing to worry about.   
I placed my shears down and picked-up the curtains.  
I then proceeded to close the windows. 

After closing the windows, my hands started shaking.  
My heart started to beat wildly as if it wanted to burst out of my chest.   
I dropped the curtains.   
I tried to reach for my shears but they were gone.

I gasped when I saw a pair of gleaming eyes mirrored at the window.  
I know whose eyes are those.  
I remember them.  
Clearly.  
But the expression on those eyes,  
I haven't seen them before, but I know what they mean.  
Hatred.

He walked closer.  
He ran his bloody fingers on my hair to reveal the side of my neck.  
He lowered his face towards my nape.   
I can feel his breath against my skin.  
I can smell the scent of fresh blood wafting towards me.

He then stepped closer.  
His hand hovered above my shoulder.  
Then onto my cheeks.  
He gently touched them.  
From my peripheral view, I can see that there are still fresh blood in his hands 

He again leaned a little bit closer towards my ear.  
He then whispered.   
“Did you miss me, Love?"  
He asked in a hoarse voice.   
I never knew that even in moments of panic, I can still be soothed by his voice.   
Maybe, this is Vampire magic.

“I missed you…”  
He whispered again  
His arms are slowly engulfing me   
For an odd reason, the warmness of his hug started to soothe away my anxiety.  
I felt safe.  
My breathing slowed and the queasy feeling disappeared.  
He spoke again with a much sweeter voice,  
“…and your blood”,  
He said as he bared his fangs.


	4. Chapter 4

4.  
Pau’s POV

I woke up panting, covered in sweat, and in blood.  
Unknowingly, I slept on my couch.  
My right hand holds the curtains I picked-up last night.  
My left palm was covered with dried blood.   
As I investigated, it was the result of me holding my shears tightly.  
The wound on my left palm perfectly matches the blade.  
Nothing to worry about.

I continued to look at the windows just to make sure that last night’s dream was really just a nightmare.  
Windows were shut, just like the way I closed them.  
I then nursed the wound on my palm, checked the house and went to work.

***

At work, chills started to roll down my spine when I heard the news.  
Sejun’s alive.  
He is alive.  
He's back.

We went to the site to see what really happened.   
Three workers from the experiment graves were found dead.  
All three had visible damages on their carotid arteries and jugular veins.   
One is lucky enough to survive the attack.  
However, he’s in a critical condition due to the amount of blood lost while he’s fleeing. 

Judging from the way he attacked his first three victims;   
It is evident that he’s very thirsty from the torture he was in before he became bed-ridden and was eventually announced dead.  
Right before the sedatives and experimental drugs were administered;   
He was also starved of any form of blood or blood substitute.   
That explains the shrunken features of his victims.   
All liquid forms of blood were either drunk or were trickled on the floor.

I looked around,  
The inside of the tent's a mess.  
There was blood on the walls.  
Blood on the tables,  
Blood on the parcels.  
Blood's everywhere.

“He is definitely a monster.”  
One of my teammates voiced out.  
“I think he’s coming for you Team Lead Pau”  
Silence filled the makeshift tent.  
All eyes were fixed on me as one of my teammates gave me a small bloody parcel.  
Remnants of my name is still attached on the box.  
However, my address was missing.  
My stomach wanted to do a 360 degree turn but I tried to compose myself.  
An old friend had visited me last night.  
It was not a dream after all,   
Not even a nightmare.  
Everything's real.  
He came back for me.


	5. Chapter 5

5.  
Pau’s POV

I am sitting on my office thinking about my encounter with Sejun last night.  
Knowing that he’s alive and potentially near me, gave me tons of emotions.  
Of all those emotions, I’d be a liar if I say that fear’s not one of them.   
Knowing that he’s a vampire is enough to implant panic,  
But knowing that I did something unacceptable troubles me more.

I stood up walked near a mirror and looked at the sides of my neck.   
No bite marks from him.  
It's a bit weird, but a part of me feels disappointed.  
I sat down and looked at my bandaged palm.   
I unraveled the gauze and looked at the deep cut.  
I investigated for any possible puncture marks.  
It was really just a cut from the blade.   
A cut that I made.  
But that really doesn’t bring any assurance. 

If he’s after me, why didn’t he just kill me?  
Why does he need to make it look like a dream?  
What game is he into?  
I angrily clenched my left hand.  
The wound stung and blood started to drip from the fresh wound.

“Prove it”  
I told him as I placed a small vial of my own blood on the middle of the table that’s separating us.  
I then sat down, leaned back and crossed my arms.  
He was at the other side of the table, his head bowed down.   
He was wearing the orange shirt provided by the facility.  
He laughed.   
His eyes were veiled by several strands of hair.  
He then opened them.  
Those reddish brown eyes,   
It seems like they were trying to say something.  
So intense, mysteriously beautiful

He then teasingly smiled back at me and reached for the vial at the middle of the table.  
Without removing his gaze, he uncapped the vial, smelled my blood and drank it while looking intensely at my eyes.  
His eyes are still fixed with mine as he licked the blood that trickled on the side of his mouth.

He then walked closer until we're just a foot apart.  
The facility guards outside the observation cell raised their weapons.  
Ready to fire if he dared to hurt me. 

I also tensed on my seat, my heart pounding.  
He leaned down at me.  
Looked deeper in my eyes and said.  
“I don’t even need to drink your blood to read you, Love.  
You’re fighting a battle you don’t know about.  
You know the answer, but you don’t know the question.”

Those words stung deeper than expected.   
Before his words affected me,   
I just concentrated on the response I got from the experiment.  
So it’s real.

He stood straight.  
He smirked.   
His fangs peeking.  
“Pau, it means peace.”  
He said as he walked away from me.  
“Interesting”   
He said softly as he slumped back to his chair.

I tried to look calm as I could.  
Did he just know my name just by drinking my blood?  
I uncomprehendingly looked at him.   
“Name’s written on the vial”  
Then he laughed.   
I snatched the vial and saw that my name’s indeed written on it.  
“Names, addresses, numbers, we can’t see them.  
Grudges, dreams, memories, as long as there's a strong emotional connection we can feel them.”   
He calmly said.

Nonsense.   
No scientific rule will support that.  
Emotions?  
“Are you playing tricks with me vampire?”  
I asked irritably.  
He just smirked and looked away.

As I walked nearer the door of the observation cell, I heard his voice.  
“Sejun”  
I confusedly looked back at him.  
He was smiling warmly.  
A different smile from a while ago.  
It was a friendly smile.  
“Nice meeting you.”

The image faded when I heard one of my teammates calling my name.  
“Team Lead Pau, you have to see this.”  
He said while handling me the message he received.  
While getting some of my stuff at home;  
Our messenger heard that the couple living next-door from my house were found bathing with their own blood.  
They were killed by “ferocious thieves”.  
According to the sources, the crime scene was covered in blood.  
It was so gruesome, that it looked like someone slaughtered an animal at the crime scene.

I opened my left hand.  
Blood continued to flow from the wound just like the tears that started to flow from my eyes.   
He’s back.  
He’s indeed back.


	6. Chapter 6

6\.   
Sejun’s POV

I remembered the first time that we met,   
I imagined that everything would be harder for me.  
Well, it did.

I thought she’s just the same as my other captors.  
But on her first night as the head scientist assigned for me,  
She proved that she’s different.   
She was tougher 

On the night that I paid her a visit,  
She was in total shock.  
She fainted when she saw my reflection on her window.  
I picked her up from the floor,  
Then I laid her on the couch near the window.

She’s still the same.  
Her shoulder length hair,   
Her adorable nose,   
Her inviting smell.  
The several strands of hair that cover her closed eyes.  
Everything’s exactly as I remembered.

I knelt beside her.  
I caressed her hair.  
I smiled.  
I have so many questions to ask her.   
The things she made me feel,   
Are they all part of a hypothesis she needed to answer?  
Those feelings, are they all just illusions?  
Am I really just one of her experiments?

Just a couple of minutes, my nose started to tingle.  
I’m smelling something tempting.  
Something so good, I cannot refuse.  
I smell blood.

I looked at her hands,  
She was grasping a pair of shears so tightly.  
Her palms started to bleed.

Ever since I came back,   
Blood became my weakness.  
It became so inviting I can't refuse.  
Unconsciously, my mind started to go blank.  
It feels like I’m starting to lose myself.

Little by little, I started to come nearer her wounded palm.  
“Would you really hurt me?”  
I almost gave in but a memory popped up.  
I hated myself for nearly hurting her.

I stood up and walked farther from her.   
I must leave while I can still hold back.  
"What on Earth am I trying to do?"  
I asked myself,  
My body was shaking.  
I took one last look at her bloody palm.  
I can feel my senses wanting to taste that bloody red liquid flowing from the wound on her palm to the blade she's holding.

Then, I looked at her.  
She's unconscious.  
Her eyes were closed but she didn't look peaceful at all.  
"Could I really hurt you?"  
I asked.

I wanted revenge.  
But not this way.  
I can’t.  
I can't hurt her.  
She was my star on a starless night.


	7. Chapter 7

7.  
Pau’s POV

After what happened to my neighbors and the grave workers,   
My superior insisted that I stay in one of the facility’s lodging rooms for the night.   
He assured me that Sejun can’t hurt me if I’m inside the facility.  
Three armed officers were stationed next to the room I’m staying at.   
There are roving officers, rooms have surveillance cameras 24/7.  
Mostly, vampire proof.   
Mostly, but not hundred percent vampire proof.

I picked a room where I can still see the moon.   
Compared to the precautions the facility is providing,   
Watching the moon makes me feel safer. 

I had trouble sleeping that night.  
I just sat on the bed looking at the partially clouded moon at the night sky.  
The curtains were wide open, but the windows were shut.  
It’s a natural response to run away and hide if you know that someone’s after you.  
But why am I running away?  
Am I a hundred percent sure that he’ll hurt me?  
Yes, he did kill some people but would he do the same to me?  
I looked at my left palm,  
Unraveled the gauze that’s covering the wound.  
It already stopped bleeding. 

“Would you really hurt me?”  
The memory started to materialize.  
I bravely asked him as I slashed my own palm with the scalpel I’m holding.  
Blood started to drip down my clenched palm.  
He was looking at me then to my bleeding hand.

Yes I’m crazy.   
Very crazy.  
I just barged inside a vampire’s observation cell.  
In the middle of the night.  
No companions.  
No back-up plans.  
Drunk.  
And now bleeding.  
This is suicide.

I can see him breathing heavily while he emerged from the corner of the room.  
Little by little, the moonlight touched his face revealing his features.  
His eyes are wild and sharp as an animal’s.  
His fangs are now bared.  
He looks like an animal ready to pounce his hopeless prey.

And that was the time, I realized how stupid of a person I am.  
There’s no way out of the cell because it’s locked from the outside.  
Once you’re in, you can’t get out.  
I’m hopeless. 

On my right hand, I held the scalpel tighter.   
I looked back at him, he’s now just a feet away from me.   
I stepped back and almost lost my balance.  
Then, I accidentally lost my grip on the scalpel.  
It slid down leaving another cut on my right palm.

With a sharp noise,  
The scalpel dropped on the floor.   
Droplets of blood followed.  
Now, both of my palms are bleeding.  
Great.  
I sarcastically remarked.  
I looked at him, but he’s nowhere to be found.

My heart beat rapidly.  
I looked at my bleeding palms.  
Blood is gushing from both wounds.  
“You’re a fool.  
All of these years trying to prove yourself.  
Now, because of your stupidity,  
You’ll die as vampire food.  
Fool.”  
I silently scolded myself.

I tried to focus but my own body betrayed me.  
I heard a buzzing noise from inside my head.  
My eyes started to get fuzzy.  
My knees felt like jelly.

And at that very moment, I slowly felt his breath near my ears.  
He’s standing behind me.  
My knees gave in.  
In just a couple of seconds, I can already feel the cold floor touching my legs.

Everything was blurry and unclear.   
But I’m sure that someone caught me halfway from my fall.   
Right before I closed my eyes,   
“Are you okay, Love?"  
Said the sweet voice.  
The moonlight shining behind him.  
I must be dead,   
I told myself.  
And everything faded to black.


	8. Chapter 8

8\.   
Pau’s POV’ 

I woke up and looked at my watch,  
It's 1 AM, too early.  
I pulled my sheets to cover my face from the moonlight that’s entering the room.  
I don’t usually wake up at one, unless…  
Then everything came flashing back. 

I stood up quietly from the bed.  
I grabbed my scalpel that’s lying on the chair beside the bed.  
I’m still shaking but I held the scalpel on my right hand.  
My palm tingles with pain.  
I then remembered that both of my palms are wounded by the same blade I’m holding.  
But what’s odd is that both of them are dressed with an orange piece of cloth to stop the bleeding.  
I dropped the blade in confusion.

“You’ll cut yourself again if you’re that careless.”  
Said a voice from the void.  
I scanned the room to see where he is.   
He was sitting at the corner adjacent to the small window of his cell.

Maybe he was trying to sleep?  
His face was veiled by several strands of hair, but I’m quite sure that his eyes were closed.  
I breathed nervously.  
He opened his eyes and looked at me.  
My whole body continued shaking.

He just sat there and continued staring at me.  
After a minute or so, he did something unexpected.  
He started laughing.  
Is something weird?  
Or is he mentally unstable?  
In moments like this, I felt more insulted than afraid.  
Why is this crazy vampire laughing at me?

“Excuse me?”   
I asked.  
He stopped for a bit and continued laughing.  
I stood straight and crossed by arms.  
“Are you trying to offend me vampire?”  
The fear inside me dissolved.  
Right now, I’m utterly infuriated.  
My face must have been flushing red with annoyance.  
And I don’t even care.

“Listen here Vampire!   
I demand you to stop laughing or else…”  
He stopped laughing.   
“Or else what?”  
He smirked slyly and continued to laugh.

That was my breaking point.   
I furiously walked near him and shouted.  
“You know what! That’s it!  
I don’t know what you’re laughing at.  
But the way you do it makes me feel that I’m being insulted.   
And I’m totally angry right now!”

“At least you’re not afraid now.”  
He said as he stopped laughing.  
He smiled.  
Is it weird that I felt something just be looking at that smile?  
It feels like seeing a single star on a starless night.  
Magical, yet so rare.  
That was the same smile I saw when he said his name.  
It was Sejun.

He then closed his eyes.  
It seems that he was trying to sleep.

It took me a while to understand his motive.  
I was still standing in front of him.  
Yes, I’m no longer afraid.  
I’m not even angry.  
And I don’t even know how to feel about him anymore.

I walked to the corner near the window and sat on the floor.  
I looked back at him who’s now silently trying to sleep.  
I looked at my palms.  
They were wrapped nicely with an orange strip of cloth.  
They were from the ends of his shirt.  
“Thank you, Sejun.”  
I said.  
He opened his eyes and nodded.

At this point, I could no longer feel any fear.  
Looking at him makes me rethink my purpose.  
I remember him saying   
“You’re fighting a battle you don’t know about.  
You know the answer, but you don’t know the question”

I am indeed fighting a battle against his kind.  
But why are we even hunting them down?  
I know the answer, kill them.  
But why do I need to kill them?   
What if vampires are like humans too?  
What if we humans are just overacting?  
What if they are just attacking humans because we are the first one to hurt them?  
What if they’re just fighting because they want to survive, just like us?  
Why am I here trying to kill someone who just wants to fight for his life?

“You need to calm down”  
I heard his voice from his corner.  
“It’s not fear, nor anger, but I can sense that you’re sad and frustrated at the same time”  
He said, and that’s exactly how I feel.  
“I’m sorry but I tasted just a bit of your blood when you fainted.   
I just wanted to know why you foolishly locked yourself inside this room, with me”  
He said and sheepishly smiled.  
“Well, did you find the answers?”  
I asked him.  
“I found out that you’re drunk.”  
We both laughed.  
“And sad.”  
He said as he looked at me intently in the eyes.  
“You felt little, you felt like a failure, you wanted to prove something.”

The way he said those things made me feel like he’s with me when those things happened.  
Yes, I was drunk and sad.   
I was belittled and laughed at.   
I was mocked saying that my experiments would fail.  
I barged inside his cell and slit my palm to prove how vicious vampires can be.  
But I was wrong.  
He took care of my wounds and even calmed me down.

“Would you mind telling me your story?   
We still have several hours before they rescue you.”  
He jokingly told me.  
“I’m a woman of few words.  
Since blood shows you emotions,  
You can bite away if you want.”  
I confidently showed him my bandaged palm.

“Is that an invitation?”  
He asked.  
“Maybe”  
Then we both laughed.  
Then I said,  
“I realized, maybe, you’re not too bad after all…”   
I smiled.  
“Most of your kind hated us for being just vampires.  
Even though we don't hurt anyone, people hated us simply because were vampires"  
He said sadly.  
"Yes, vampires may have hurt people but not all of us are like that."  
He added while looking at the small window adjacent to him.  
"Like me."  
His voice wavered.   
"I’m not a monster, I’m just a vampire…”  
He remarked.

With a last glimpse of his then innocent smile,   
I ended the vision.  
I was back inside the lodging room of the facility.  
Laying on my bed.  
Staring at the moon, that’s peering behind the night clouds.  
“Would you really hurt me?”  
I asked the moon.  
“Why would I?”  
Said a hypnotic voice from the left side of the bed.

I slowly turned to my left.  
There he was, sitting quietly.  
He was smiling.  
The kind of smile, I haven’t seen before.  
His eyes were burning red.  
They were starless.


	9. Chapter 9

9.

Pau’s POV

I woke up with the sound of sirens wailing.  
I looked at the side of my bed just to make sure.   
I sat on my bed and immediately felt the stinging inside my left palm.  
I unraveled the bandage.  
Last night, the blood already coagulated,  
Today, the wound looks fresh. 

I again scanned the room and saw no one.  
Knowing that he’s alive supports my theory.  
Those “dreams” I’m having, they’re all real.  
He’d been visiting me these past two nights.  
Am I ready to see him?  
Yes.  
Am I afraid of him?  
No.  
But am I prepared to see what he’s become?  
Maybe yes, maybe not yet.

I was lost in thought.  
I came back to my senses when I heard some commotion from the other room.  
I grabbed my lab gown and quickly went out to see what’s happening.

When I opened the door, I saw facility officers wheeling gurneys.  
Two of the gurneys have bodies covered in white cloth.  
The third is carrying one of the armed officers stationed to protect me.  
She was pale.  
A rescuer was placing a bandage on her bleeding wrist.  
What have you done?  
What have I done?

***  
Upon arriving at my office,   
My superior and I checked the surveillance footage from last night.   
Confirming a theory is much scarier than just knowing it.  
The moment we started watching it, chills ran on my spine.

He was with me from the moment I entered the room.  
He quietly concealed himself behind the heavy window curtains.  
He also knew that there are surveillance cameras directed to his hiding spot.  
He even looked at it and smirked.   
Knowing fully, that no one will be around to help if ever anything bad happens to me.

I saw myself fixing my sheets and trying to sleep.  
Well, that explains it.  
He’d been looking at me the whole night.  
I also saw myself unraveling the bandages from my wounded palm.  
When I finally fell asleep, he went out of his hiding spot, knelt at the side of my bed, and started caressing my hair.  
Tears started to form, but I held them back.

After caressing my hair, he held my palm.  
It looks like he’s consuming blood from my wound.  
But if you looked closer, he’s just covering the wound,   
Preventing himself to be tempted at the sight and smell of my blood.  
I looked again at my left palm.  
The only wound I have there was a wound made by myself.

I continued watching and saw him gently putting back the bandages on my hand.  
When he was done, he mouthed some words.  
I played it back and said the words with him.  
“Why would I?”  
He scooted away from me and leaned his back at the wall.  
The same way he did in my “dream”.  
After a while, he stood up and left me unharmed.  
However, the opposite of that happened in the room beside me.

I don’t really know what to feel anymore.  
Yes, he scares me.  
But with all the people he had already killed, the facility will be after him.  
He’s starting to worry me.


	10. Chapter 10

10   
Sejun's POV

"He needs to die.  
He deserves it."  
Everything was a blur but I can guarantee you that I recognize who owns that voice.  
Hearing those words made me feel like a nine-inch nail was slowly hammered down to my chest.  
"Things like him doesn't belong to this world,  
He's just an error that needs to disappear."  
She added.  
Her voice was lifeless.

"Why bother setting these machines if you intend on killing him?  
At this point, we all know that if we left him at his cell,   
he'll soon expire."  
Said the man who's setting up the tubes connected to me.

I tried looking where the voice was coming from.  
Then I saw her.   
She was standing at the side of the hospital bed I'm lying on.  
Everything's quite blurry but I can recognize that face.  
I see it every day.  
Those eyes, that nose, her lips...  
But today, something's different.  
She feels distant.  
She feels like a different person  
I tried to focus on that familiar face.  
Her expression was blank and emotionless.

"I want it to be a slow death.  
I want him to suffer.  
I want him to feel every inch of pain.  
And I want to do it myself,   
I want to see him die with my own eyes.  
He's just one of my experiments after all."

This can't be real.  
I told myself.  
She looked at me.  
But her eyes were emotionless.  
She's saying these painful words to me but something feels strange.  
I'm too weak to "read" her emotions but I wanted to believe that she's lying.  
She's usually an easy person to read, but at this moment,   
She's just too hard to decipher.

She's still looking at me.  
I hated myself for being too weak at that moment.  
I felt that the loss of blood and the poisons they're injecting me are starting to affect me.  
It already started messing with my brain by making me think that she will kill me.  
She will help me start anew.  
She promised me.

I'm starting to have hallucinations.  
I'm starting to hear improper words.  
I'm starting to doubt her.  
But...   
Are these really just hallucinations?  
I hope so.

With all the remaining strength I have with me,   
I lifted my hands and tried reaching for hers.  
"Pau"  
I tried saying her name.  
I reached for the sleeves of her lab coat.  
I held it.  
She's still looking at me,   
Her eyes, starless.

What happened next made my heart sink.  
"Don't touch me monster."  
She said as she shook my grip from the end of her lab gown sleeves.  
I felt like another nine-inch nail was hammered to my chest.  
Warm tears started to fall from my eyes.  
"I'm not a monster"  
I told her.  
"Then what are you?  
A victim of our kind's misconception about vampires?  
Then why did you kill humans for survival?"  
She answered me.  
She's not like that.  
Is this person standing next to me really my Pau?

I still wanted to believe that these are all just effects of the drug they gave me,   
But why does everything feel so real?  
Her hands, these tears  
"What happened to you?"  
I asked her.   
Still confused.  
Heartbroken.

"You're a fool.  
You're just one of my experiments.  
I no longer need you.  
Just die.  
And I mean it."  
She said as she reached for a syringe filled with dark red liquid.   
She injected it into one of the tubes connected to my left wrist.

When the liquid entered my body,  
It felt like hundreds of tiny blades coursing on my bloodstream.  
It was extremely painful.  
I bet you already know what's more agonizing than that.  
It's the thought of Pau.

She gave me hope.  
She made me feel things I didn't know before.  
She made me happy.  
Now, knowing that all of those were just lies,  
It hurts me...  
It hurts me so much.

Then everything faded away.  
I'm now back inside her room.  
This was a different room.  
I sneaked inside the facility just to follow her.  
I wanted to haunt her before I do anything gruesome.   
I wanted her to have sleepless nights.  
I want her to have nightmares.  
But there she is, in front of me.  
Sleeping soundly, unaware of the danger that I am.

I sat down on the side of her bed.   
I caressed her hair.  
Then, I started smelling blood.   
It was her wounded palm.   
I tried my best to hold back, I really think I did well.  
But before I can even think about doing something unpleasant,  
I reached for the bandage and wrapped her palm. 

She must have felt it and started talking in her sleep.  
"Would you really hurt me?"  
She asked as if she knew that I'm here, listening.  
You betrayed me,  
You made my heart pound,  
Then you killed me.  
Could I hurt you?  
I still don't know,  
I still have questions.  
But i still answered,  
"Why would I?"  
I waited for a couple of minutes just to see if she would do that again.  
It didn't happen.


	11. Chapter 11

11.  
Pau’s POV

It’s been four days since he returned.   
Ten lives were taken.   
Four were in critical condition.  
Four locations.  
Hours of video footage of him stalking me.   
Everything’s a mess.  
Everyone’s panicking.  
Just because of a ferocious vampire that’s thirsty for blood and revenge.  
He’s unstoppable,   
HE’S unpredictable 

There’s no point in running.  
He’ll always know where I’m going.  
He’ll always follow me.  
He will always find a way. 

Memories started to flash as I looked outside the car window.  
I’m on my way to a place where he can’t follow me.  
But I doubt it.  
Soon, there will be no place left to hide.

“How do you know it was me?”  
I asked him as I sat down.  
I placed my folder in front of the table separating us.  
He raised his bowed head.  
Looked at me and smiled.  
“Scent of your blood”  
He said as he placed his handcuffed hands above the table.

“Is this turning into a novel where you just know me because I have a particular smell?”  
He leaned at the table, his hair falling and slightly covering his eyes.  
“I’ve been starved for blood,   
Yours was the one first one I tasted in a while, twice.  
Drops of your blood were scattered in my room.”  
He leaned closer.  
“Think of me as someone with a much-advanced sense of smell.”

That makes sense.  
Just like what bloodhounds do in tracking.  
I reached for the folder in the middle of the table.  
I opened it and tried to write the things he said.  
“How are your palms?”  
He asked while looking at my bandaged hands.  
I still have a hard time writing.  
But I did not tell him that.

I placed the pen down.  
Crossed my hands against my chest.  
I looked at him in the eyes.  
“You know that these walls have eyes and ears.  
You can’t hide anything from us.  
I know that all of the things you do right now are just deceptions.”  
I stopped.  
He perplexedly tilted his head trying to figure out what I’m up to.

“I vowed to eliminate your kind vampire.   
I don’t trust you.”  
I said in my most convincing voice, even though I’m shaking.   
“And I mean it.”  
I continued.

He narrowed his eyes as if deciding if he should kill me now.  
He sat straight and continued to look at me with those reddish-brown eyes.  
His expression is too complex to explain.  
It was silent.

“Drink away”  
I said as I placed the vial of my blood above the table.  
He looked at me suspiciously.  
“What tricks are you up to?”  
He asked as he drank the blood from the vial.  
He fixed his gaze to me as he wiped the remaining blood on the side of his mouth.

“You are anxious.”  
He’s right.  
“You’re unhappy”  
Sadness never left me.  
“You’re determined”  
Yes, I am.  
The moment gets jumpier until he paused and laughed a little.  
He gave me a different kind of look.  
“And you’re lying.”   
He smiled.  
I too, gave a smile in return.   
And that was the beginning of our bond.

“We’re here Ma’am”  
I snapped back to reality when the driver spoke.   
I have arrived.


	12. Chapter 12

12\.   
Pau’s POV

The driver dropped me at the front porch of the house.   
It was a white cottage style house in the middle of a grassy field.  
No trees, no shadows.  
No other plants, just plain grass and whatever lies beneath them.  
But if you looked really closely, there’s an installed electrified fencing surrounding its five hundred meter radius.  
It’s Facility property after all.

It was one of the remote properties of the Facility.  
It was once used as a contamination house for an infection fifty years ago.   
Now it was just an abandoned house.  
Sometimes used as a special holding area for some of the facility’s secret projects and some scientific mishaps.

The nearest to a neighbor you can get is the lone bus stop.  
One kilometer north of the house.  
The house was designed that way.  
And I prefer the isolation.  
Nobody will get hurt except for me.

Yes, it was risky.  
Yes, it’s suicide.   
I’d be a liar if I say that I am not afraid.  
But I saw that he will not hurt me.   
He held back.   
But am a hundred percent sure that he’d be still like that the moment we meet again?  
No.

I opened the door and looked at the interior of the house.  
It’s a nice house.  
How long would I be staying here?  
One day?   
One week?  
I’d consider myself lucky if I stay alive until tomorrow.  
He may not have found me yet but he knows my scent.  
Vampires’ sense of smell are the same as bloodhounds.  
They’re both great trackers.  
It’s just a matter of hours before he finds his way and ends up here.

I looked around the house,  
It looks normal, but as someone who works for the facility,  
I know that there are surveillance devices and other defense modifications installed inside the house.  
Honestly speaking, I was first clueless why they are protecting a mere scientist like me.  
I first believed that it was because of my scientific research and advances.  
Yes, it hurt a bit at first.  
I’m being used as a bait to catch him.  
But now, I won’t let anyone use me anymore.  
Not to hurt him.   
Not again.


	13. Chapter 13

13.  
Pau’s POV

I’m being used,  
That’s how I lived my life inside the facility.  
Why?  
My family has connections.  
I was mocked.   
I was laughed at due to my weird ideas.

After an incident, they promoted me as a team lead.  
Not because of the discoveries I made but to take the blame.  
That’s how office politics work.  
You know that you don’t deserve the way they’re treating you,   
But you don’t have a choice.  
You just have to go with the flow if you want to survive.

Nobody’s really taking me seriously until they discover something.  
They gave me what I wanted to silence me down.  
That’s the time I took over Sejun’s observation.  
And that was the best decision I made while working for them. 

“You’re getting bolder as the time goes by.”   
He said.  
He was sitting at the dark corner of the room.  
“I’m getting more and more comfortable with you.  
It’s getting scary.”  
I said as I sat on the floor.  
A feet away from him.

I again locked myself inside the observation cell.  
In the middle of the night.  
Alone.   
But this time I’m not drunk.  
I just need someone to talk to.  
I just need a friend.

“Remember when I told you about these walls having eyes and ears?”  
I asked him.  
“I managed to shut them down,   
One minute for the ears.”  
I pointed at the wall-mounted speaker and microphone on top of him.  
“Nine for the eyes”  
I pointed at the camera mounted above me.

“Why?”  
He asked.  
“I’ve turned bolder”  
I smiled.  
I looked at my watch checking if a minute had already passed.  
“Isn’t that breaking rules?”  
He intently asked.  
“Rules are made so that people can break them.  
If you want to survive, you have to break it.”   
I said just before my watch alarmed,   
Marking the end of my one minute audio recording breach.


	14. Chapter 14

14.  
Pau’s POV

“I’m very happy right now.  
I’m very pleased with my situation right now.”  
I said in a melancholic voice, while hoping he gets what I’m trying to do.  
“When I entered this facility I knew what I’m supposed to do.  
Little by little, I’m sure that I’m starting to reach my dreams.”  
I looked at him.  
It looks like he’s having a hard time getting what I’m saying.  
He looks unusually pale.  
Maybe it was because of the lighting.

“I will never trust you.”  
I’m quite unsure what he would feel on that part.  
He flinched.  
I purposely made my voice sound untrustworthy.  
“You will never be my friend.”

He was still looking at me.  
His expression didn’t change.  
He still looked puzzled.  
Maybe he was still trying to grasp what I’m saying.  
To be honest, he’s oddly quiet.  
He’s also somewhat unresponsive.

I scooted near him and offered my wrist.  
His expression was still the same.  
He looked sickly.  
“Bite”   
I said.  
He reached for my wrist.  
Held it for a while.  
I never noticed that his hands could get this cold.  
“I don’t need to drink your blood just to know that you’re lying.”  
He said as he gently placed my hands down.  
“You’re too easy to read.”  
I sat in silence.  
“Words don't mean anything to me, emotions do.”  
He was smiling but something feels different.  
He seemed tired and worn out.

He rested his head against his knees.  
His hair falling.  
Covering his face.  
That’s weird.  
His breathing was few and far between.

Something is not right.  
I kneeled in front of him and snatched his hand.  
I can barely feel his pulse.  
Yes, vampires have pulses just like normal humans.  
They just have advanced senses and peculiar eating choices.

I pulled up the sleeve that’s covering his arm.  
Checked the crook of his elbow.  
There were puncture marks.  
Several of them.  
There were even bruises on the punctured areas.

I held his face up using both of my hands.  
I brushed away the hair that’s covering his eyes.  
I investigated for any possible signs of harm.  
I found one, he had a small cut on the right side of his face.  
Just below his eyes. 

The cut was covered by his fringe.   
That’s why I didn’t see it earlier.  
I wiped the blood stains away.  
There’s visible bruising but the cut itself is starting to have a scab.  
Vampires really do heal faster than humans do.

He then opened his eyes.  
He’s sickly looking right now but damn, his eyes are still enticing.  
Butterflies started to dance inside my guts.  
I’m so astonished about the fast healing process of his cut,  
I forgot that I’m just less than a feet away from his face.  
His eyes were looking straight at mine.  
I can see my reflection on his.  
And I can say that that must have been one of the slowest three seconds of my life.  
But I'm not even complaining.  
Not going to lie, I’m sure that I blushed.   
Thank God, it is night and the lights inside the observation cell are dimmed.  
If not, that must have been very embarrassing.

“I’m okay”  
I came back to my senses when he spoke.  
I ignored him and examined the sides of his neck.  
There were also bruising and needle marks.  
They were experimenting with him behind my back.  
They were drawing his blood.   
For what?

“No you’re not.”  
I said angrily.  
“Bite.”  
I told him as I offered my wrist for the second time that night.  
“No. Don’t tempt me.”  
He firmly said.  
There was force on his voice.

“Look, they just drew we-don’t-know-how-many bags of blood from you.  
If you remain that stubborn, you’ll end up dying.”  
I said pleadingly.  
“But isn’t that the plan?”  
He said in a gloomy but forceful tone.  
I was taken aback with his last statement.  
His eyes were suddenly full of sadness?  
He looks like he wants to plead but is too weak to do it.

My hands dropped.  
Eliminate and kill have different meanings.  
Eliminate means to destroy so that it no longer exists.  
Kill means to put to death or extinguish the life of someone.  
I only agreed on eliminating the vampires, I never agreed on ending one’s life.

I proposed that vampires can be eliminated by turning them back to humans.  
They were once humans after all.  
I was laughed at with that idea.  
It would be impossible, they said.  
As soon as the idea was formed,   
It was immediately rejected.  
Why hire scientists if you wouldn’t allow them to do these scientific breakthroughs.

I stopped the memory there.  
The phone rang.  
“Are you okay?”  
Asked my superior from the other line.  
“We received a report that he’s tracking you and he’s not far from where you are.”  
I was right all along.   
Right after the call ended, I heard a knock from the front door. 

I walked near it.  
“Knock! Knock!”  
The sound of knocking got louder.  
“Don’t do anything foolish”   
I told myself.  
However, I touched the door knob.  
Turned it and opened the door.


	15. Chapter 15

15.  
Sejun's POV

She may have run away from me,  
But that won't stop me from following her.  
No matter how far she may go,  
I will always find her.  
I will surely do it.  
Running away is not an option.

I'm now standing at a lone bus stop.  
I can sense that she's not too far away.  
I can smell her scent.

These past few days I've been thinking over and over.  
Does she deserve what I'm about to do to her?  
"You're a fool.  
You're just one of my experiments.  
I no longer need you.  
Just die.  
And I mean it."  
Does she really mean everything?

These questions,  
They are yet to be answered.  
Tonight.

Either way,  
One of us will surely say goodbye.   
Say goodbye to the good memories,  
Say goodbye to the broken promises.  
Say goodbye to the illusions.  
Say goodbye to everything.

And I'm prepared to do that.


	16. Chapter 16

16.  
Pau’s POV

When I opened the door,  
I saw several people sent by the facility.  
They have suitcases and weapons with them.  
Some of them are looking like they’re prepared to go to a war.  
They all looked serious.

“Isn’t that too exaggerated for just a single vampire?”  
I asked bewilderingly.  
“Prevention is better than dead bodies Ma’am.”  
Said a man wearing a black suit.  
He’s the team lead of the group.

As the night fell,   
The suited officer and his men have made themselves comfortable inside the house.  
Some of them watched surveillance footage from places around the vicinity of the house.  
While others took turns in patrolling the premises.  
Compared to the officers assigned at the main office of the facility,   
These people looked way more capable of hunting vampires.  
Which made me more uncomfortable.  
If Sejun dared to come for me,  
The chances of them catching him are pretty high.

I didn’t feel safe at all.  
I felt like a prisoner.  
Being watched through the surveillance cameras,  
Being told to lock all the windows,  
Being not able to come out until sunrise.   
I felt suffocated.  
Just a couple of hours passed, but I want to run away already.  
It got me thinking, is this how Sejun felt when he was inside the observation cell?


	17. Chapter 17

17.  
Pau’s Pod

I ran until my legs can’t take it.  
I don’t really know how long I’ve been running or how far I’ve been.  
I don’t really care.  
I just continued running until I saw a nearby bus stop and sat there catching my breath.  
I’ve never felt this kind of adrenaline before.   
I only have limited time before they catch up but that’s okay.   
At least I had time alone.  
Even just for a bit.

I felt the cold tickle of air touching my skin.  
I gazed at the night sky,   
And it looked like it’s going to rain.  
Dark clouds are covering the moon.  
It’s a starless night.

“I can’t see the stars anymore.”  
He said.  
He was looking at the starless night sky above us.  
“That’s because of light pollution.”  
I bluntly told him while looking at the sky as well.  
I’m lying on the cold grass, two feet beside him.

“The spotlights are too bright, plus it’s cloudy.  
Zero chances to see stars.”  
I continued.

“Then I’ll just look at you.”  
He said awkwardly while he looked at me.  
I also looked at him.  
“Why would you look at me?”  
I confusedly asked.  
His eyes widened and embarrassingly looked away.

It took me a while to realize that he was trying to tell a cheesy pick-up line.  
“Don’t do that again, it makes me cringe.”  
I told him while laughing.  
“Glad I wasn’t the only one who found it cringey”  
He said as he laughed too.  
But honestly, it’s quite cute.

I continued staring at him as he laughed.   
He looked like a different person.  
The crinkle of his eyes, the apples of his cheeks.  
Maybe it’s the lighting but he glowed when he giggled.  
He’s like a ray of sunshine.  
He doesn’t look like he can hurt anyone.  
He doesn’t look dangerous,  
Not a single bit.

“Can I ask you something?”  
I asked him as I rolled to my side to face him properly.  
“How did you become a vampire?”  
I asked curiously.  
I hope I didn’t offend him in any way.   
I just want to know.

“To tell you honestly, I don’t really know”  
He stopped smiling and looked deeper into the night sky.   
“When I woke up, I’m already like this.  
I don’t even remember who I was before I became a vampire.  
I don’t even know who’s the real me.  
If I had the choice, I wouldn't even want to be one.”  
I can feel the sadness in his voice.  
He was turned to a vampire without him knowing.  
He was even robbed of his memories.

He was still looking at the night sky when I noticed something shiny rolling down the corner of his eye.  
Tears.

“It’s lonely to be a vampire.  
You have to stay away from people to avoid hurting them.  
You can’t be with someone for too long.  
You either end up leaving then for their own good;   
Or you end up killing them.”  
He looked at me with sorrowful eyes.

“Turning someone to a vampire isn’t as easy as you think.  
You can’t just bite them and magically turn them.  
I’ve tried it several times but all of them perished.”  
I reached for his hand and held it tightly.  
He looked at my hands that’s holding him.  
Then he looked back at me.  
“I think I can make you human again.”

For several months now, since his arrival in the Facility,   
I’ve been taking samples of his blood and mixing it with different types of antigens.  
I’ve failed many times, however, my current tests gave me different results.  
It’s possible.

“I think I have developed an antigen that will reverse the effects of vampirism.  
I know it’s possible, but it’s not yet finished.  
I promise to do it quickly so that you can live a normal life…”

I stopped when my phone rang.  
Sejun was still looking at me.  
“Just checking out if you’re still alive.  
Also, we’ll be turning off the spotlights now.  
Please put the vampire in his cuffs,   
Will be there in five minutes, thanks!”   
Said the operator on the other line. 

My supervisor knew that I’ll be doing an experiment requiring Sejun to get out of his observation cell.  
But this one, this isn’t really an experiment.  
I just want him to feel how to be free even just for a while.  
Maybe a little stargazing.   
Unfortunately, there was too much light pollution coming from the spotlights,   
We never got to see the stars.

“It’s time to go back inside.”  
I said, while still lying at my side.  
He wiped his eyes and laid on his back.  
I heard him sigh.  
Then, with a loud sound, the spotlights went off.

With that, the dark sky revealed itself.  
The night clouds are gone.  
The hiding stars started to show themselves.  
The crescent moon just above us was glowing faintly.

I looked at him who’s still full of admiration looking at the stars.  
“I never knew that I would have the chance to see this again.”  
He said as he continued looking at the starry sky.   
Since he was imprisoned inside the facility,  
This was the first time he saw the night sky again.  
That was almost a year ago.

I looked at the Milky Way above us.   
The stars looked like silver glitters sprinkled on black felt.   
Then looked back at him.   
He was still lying with his back enjoying the scenery.  
His fringe flying with the cold night breeze.  
His reddish brown eyes reflect the galaxy above us.  
His lip was bent in a very cute way.  
He was smiling, the tip of his fangs peeking.  
How could someone think of destroying something this precious?

Suddenly, the molecules inside me started to go irrational.  
The world surrounding us started to change.  
The dark empty field turned into a field full of flowers.  
I can almost smell their sweet and woody scent.  
He was lying under the sunlight,   
The summer breeze blowing his fringe away from his face.

“The moon’s beautiful…”  
The dream shifted back to reality.  
He looked at me and started to say something.  
My mind’s too cloudy to comprehend what’s happening,  
But my heart felt like it wanted to jump out of my chest.

While looking at him I realized that all my life,   
I’ve been trying to answer things based on scientific explanations.  
However, this one moment,   
This is an exception.   
This may sound too fast but,  
I opened my mouth and said things without thinking,  
“I think I like you.”


	18. Chapter 18

18.  
Pau’s POV

The facility has eyes and ears everywhere,  
But at this moment,   
The ears are too far to hear anything  
The eyes are shut because of the darkness.  
I looked at him.  
He’s still busy marveling the scenery above.  
I opened my mouth and said the words without even thinking.  
“I think I like you.”

He was looking back at me.   
I can see myself reflected on his eyes.   
He wasn’t the only one who was shocked.  
I am as well.  
My heart was pounding.  
I was frozen.  
The flashes of light from my approaching teammates confirmed that vampires could blush.  
We both blushed.

“Location detected”   
The memory was interrupted when I heard a notification from my company watch.  
Then, everything took a 360 degree turn.  
I looked around the bus stop and saw a faintly blinking light attached at the underside of the roof.  
A camera.  
My shoulders dropped when I realized that I can’t run away from them.

I did something dumb tonight.  
I tried running away from the people who were tasked to protect me from Sejun.  
I’m now sitting on the bus stop one kilometer away from the property.  
I thought running away was easy but I was wrong.

It doesn’t surprise me that the surveillance features of the house are all outdated.  
It’s fifty years after all.  
Those cameras, they’re still functioning;  
But, anyone who wore black and walked very still on a starless night like this would be unnoticeable.   
Thanks to the surveillance cameras’ old school quality.

When I reached the main gate of the property,  
Surprisingly, no one’s guarding it and not locked.  
So I just practically walked my way out of my prison,  
Then I started running.  
I ran until my legs can’t take it.  
I ran, and ran, and ran.  
I ended up sitting at a lone bus stop.  
I almost started laughing because of how easy they gave up on chasing me.

Surprise, surprise!   
This is all a set-up.  
They’re tracking a vampire anyways.  
I’m the bait.  
Now, they’ll just wait for the vampire to show up and they’re done.  
I know that Sejun’s clever.  
I’m confident that he would not…

A cold wind passed by me.  
The leaves from the nearby trees started to rustle.  
I started to see shadows projected by the faint glow of the moon.  
I have company.

I looked around me.  
There’s a familiar figure standing under the tree just across the street.  
The moon’s too dim to light his features but I’m sure who he is.  
My heart was starting to go haywire.  
I stood up.  
My eyes stung from holding back the tears.

He stepped out of the shadows.  
My heart froze.   
He was really standing there.  
Just a road between us.  
He was looking back at me.  
Smiling.  
It was a sweet smile.

The tears that I was holding back begin to trickle down.  
This is an unexpected reunion.  
I didn’t bother wiping off the tears.  
I just want to feel how surreal this moment is.  
Seeing him alive and in front of me just makes me super happy.

He took another step.  
In the blink of an eye,  
Blood started to flow from his right shoulder blade.  
I wanted to run to him but someone grabbed me away.  
It was the guy in black suit.  
I protested and tried to pull away from him.  
But I heard two more gunshots.  
When I looked back at Sejun.  
He was gone.


	19. Chapter 19

19.  
Sejun’s POV

I was in the middle of a dark room,  
A dim light was shining above me.   
I was sitting on a chair.  
My hands were not tied.  
At my state,  
Hand cuffs and ties were useless.  
I don’t even have the energy to lift my head and look at people surrounding me.

There was a faint beeping from the machines inside the room  
There are needles on my wrists, and the insides of my elbow.  
Again.

From the right side,  
I can see blood flowing out of the tubes.  
On the left, I can see a dark colored liquid.  
As it entered my body,  
It felt like millions of tiny shattered glasses were flowing in my veins and arteries.

When I was captured six months ago,   
They were just torturing me.  
They were making me spill where individuals of my kind stay.  
I gave them no answer.  
I don’t even know where they are or if there are still others like me.  
On my life time being who I am today,  
I never, even once, met someone like me.   
It was lonely.

I wanted everything to end already   
But I can’t, every time I try to take my life,  
It just ends up failing.  
I can’t die, I’m a vampire.   
It’s an endless torture. 

But this time, it feels different.  
I don’t want to die anymore.   
I want to live,  
Not forever.  
Just a bit longer.  
But these things that’s happening right now.  
These tubes, these machines.  
I’m slowly falling apart.  
I’m slowly fading.

I heard the door creaked open.  
A new set of feet arrived and stood in front of me.  
With all my remaining energy, I raised my head to look at the stranger.  
Everything’s vague but he was certainly wearing a hooded jacket.  
He lowered his hood and walked closer to me.

He first spoke with the three people overseeing my torment.  
All I can hear were inaudible noises,  
My mind’s too cloudy to understand.  
After a minute or so,   
They stepped aside and left the room.  
He looked like he’s in charge.  
He must have been “The Superior”

“I’ve been hearing things about you and her.  
He spoke with eloquence in his voice.   
He’s talking about Pau.  
“You see, I don’t really want to spoil the experiment,  
It’s actually quite entertaining.  
But to tell you honestly,   
Everything you see and feel is fake.”  
He said very slowly.  
Making sure that I understand every little detail.  
I just kept staring at him.  
Even though I couldn’t really see his face.

“You know how incapable she is.  
She’s weak and can be easily manipulated.  
What did she promise you?  
Turn you to human?  
You seriously fell for that?”  
He continued and shook his head.

“She killed several of your kinds by her failed projects.  
Are you sure she won’t end up killing you too?”  
He said.  
If I’m going to die, I‘ll choose the death that will make me happy.  
I wouldn’t mind being hurt if it’s her.

“Pathetic.  
You don’t have hope.  
You’re just a bloodthirsty monster killing for entertainment.”  
He said as he continued to rub those words on my mind.  
I’m not a monster.  
She knew that.

“You’re no different from me.”  
I gathered all my energy to say those things.  
He was taken aback and looked pissed.  
He stood up straight and laughed. 

“At least, I’m not a fool like you.   
You are just a part of an experiment.  
Both of you.  
I’m the player and you are my pawns.  
For the two of you,   
Happiness is just an illusion.  
Don’t fall for it.”  
He said to me.   
His voice started to die away.

The scene started to shift.  
We are now laying on the cold grass.  
Looking at the starless night.  
She was a foot away from me.  
I looked at her.  
She was smiling.

“What if I lost my abilities as a vampire?  
Like the one with the blood?”  
I asked her with my weak voice.  
She turned to her side to face me.  
“Well, that would be okay.  
We could talk normally like normal couples do?”  
She giggled  
"Couples"   
I said to myself.  
That made my heart skip a beat.  
“We won’t need to lie anymore.”  
Then she smiled.   
I smiled back at her. 

What if I already lied to you?  
I'm keeping a secret that I’ve been wanting to tell you.  
Vampires don't really read people’s emotions through their blood.

At first I just took advantage of it.  
She’s willingly giving her blood for the purpose of studies.  
I need blood to survive the nightly tortures I’m experiencing.  
It’s a win-win situation.  
I just planned to play along because she was too easy to read.  
Her actions and emotions show everything.  
That makes her an easy prey not only for me,   
But also for the people who’d been toying her inside the facility.

Everything changed after the night she barged in my observation cell.   
Drunk.  
I learned her story.  
Occasionally, I got to drink her blood.  
But as time went on,  
I felt guilt.  
I began refusing to drink her blood.  
She’s no longer the source of my survival.  
She became my survival itself. 

She noticed that I’m still looking at her.  
She must have felt uncomfortable and somewhat cringey.  
She sat and started scribbling on her notes.  
She tried hiding her face but I can still see it.  
Thanks to the spotlights illuminating us.

She stopped scribbling when her phone rang.  
She looked at me but she's still smiling.  
This smile was different,  
She's up to something.

She motioned me to stand up.  
She also stood up.  
"Do you dance?"  
She excitedly asked me.  
I tilted my head in confusion.  
"Okay that'll do"  
She said, still smiling.  
"Okay turn off the lights"  
She told the person on the other line.

Then the lights went off.  
The moon's faint glow is just enough for me to see her.  
All of a sudden she started dancing weirdly.  
I can see that she's not really a dancer but she's enjoying herself.  
"Come on, dance with me!"   
She then grabbed my hands and guided me to dance.

We looked like idiots.  
Dancing under the faint glow of the moon.  
The stars served as our audience.  
The silence became our orchestra.  
"Dance more!   
The lights are off, they won't see us.  
And they'll be here in less than a minute."  
She said as she continued to dance with me.

A minute's too short,  
I told myself.  
Might as well enjoy it with her to the fullest.  
With that, I danced my heart out.  
It might have looked weird because she stopped dancing.  
I looked at her.  
She looked shocked.  
"Is something wrong?"  
I asked her as I stopped dancing.  
She then looked at me and started laughing.   
I also laughed with her.  
My worries completely melted away at the sight of her laughing.  
If only this could last a bit longer. 

Not only are her lips were smiling,  
But her eyes as well.  
They were as bright as the stars twinkling in the dark sky.  
Yet, stars sometimes lost their brilliance.  
At those times, the night sky loses its spectacle.  
Just like her eyes.


	20. Chapter 20

20.  
Sejun’s POV

The scene changed again,   
I felt that my body was numb.  
I can’t feel anything.  
I can’t move my muscles. 

My eyes are partly opened but everything’s a blur.  
Same as to my hearing.  
I can’t remember what happened before I was wheeled inside this brightly lit room.  
All I know is that my body is already starting to wither away.   
Knowing that my vitals are beginning to wear out,   
It’s hard to trust everything I see and hear.  
It’s now harder to decipher what’s reality and what’s hallucination. 

I can hear the faint beeping of the life support connected to me.   
Then I heard the door opening.  
I saw a blurred figure of a woman dressed in a white coat.  
She was pulling something from her pocket.  
A vial of reddish liquid,  
She pulled a syringe.  
She then injected the liquid on the IV that’s connected to my wrist.

“I know you’re listening but this is the only way”  
It was a familiar voice.  
She leaned closer.  
She looked familiar.  
“You need to die.”  
She emotionlessly said.  
Finally, my vision adjusted to reveal who she is.  
Pau.

Those words started to sting on my chest.  
She mentioned killing me several times already.  
How could she say those words to me?  
At first I believed that those were just hallucinations.  
Effects of the blood loss and drugs.  
However, as the days went on,   
I felt that she really meant it.  
"I want it to be a slow death.  
I want him to suffer.  
I want him to feel every inch of pain"  
Everytime she injects the dark liquid on my IV,  
I become weaker and weaker.  
It's slowly consuming me.  
It's slowly killing me.

I tried to look into her eyes.  
I wanted to beg her to stop the torture.   
If she wants to end my life,   
Can she please do it once and for all?  
This pain is becoming much much more unbearable.  
For the person who's slowly killing me is the same person who gave me the will to live again.  
The person who gave me hope,   
Is the same person who's taking it away.  
The person who made me dream again,  
Is also the one who's crushing those dreams.

She’s not the Pau I knew.  
Her eyes were now cold and emotionless.  
They were starless.

She then stood up and left me without looking back.  
When the door closed.   
I started to feel a painful sensation all over my body.  
Feels like shards of glass replaced the blood flowing inside my veins and arteries.   
It also feels like a million needles were being pressed on every tissue and muscle inside me.   
Then I heard a buzzing noise.  
Everything faded to black.


	21. Chapter 21

21.  
Sejun’s POV

When I opened my eyes it was already dusk.  
Those dreams.  
They were memories.  
Painful memories. 

We were special with each other right?  
That's real.  
Right?  
The words stung deeper than knives.  
Words hurt more than wounds. 

I looked around me.   
I’m no longer inside the bright room.  
I was inside a house.   
Laying on a bed. 

I looked at the window in front of me.  
Shards of broken glass were scattered.  
I looked at my fists.  
There were small wounds on them.  
They were cuts from the shattered glass.

I tried sitting up but my right shoulder stung.   
I looked at it,  
Blood stains.  
But when I looked at the skin beneath my clothes.  
Fresh wound.  
I didn’t expect that.  
My wounds should have healed fully by now.  
This feels weird.  
I know that I heal fast.

I tried to remember what horrible things I did to have a wound like this.  
To no avail, I really can’t recall... yet.

Ever since coming back from the dead,   
I started having killing extravaganzas here and there.   
Even with just a single drop of blood.   
I lose myself.   
I was not like this before I was captured.  
I can control myself.  
But this time, I’m not myself when I see blood. 

I become someone I’m not.  
I become someone I’m afraid of.  
I become a wild animal.  
I become a monster.

I just follow my instinct.  
And when I snap out of it.  
Everything’s already too late.  
They have already perished.

I tried to move but the wound on my shoulder hurt.  
I focused harder and tried to remember what had happened before my killings.  
I looked at the side of the bed I'm lying on.  
I saw a photo of the reason why I'm bleeding.  
Physically and emotionally.  
I saw the reason why I've been miserable these past few days.  
I saw the woman I've been hunting.

"You either end up leaving them for their own good;   
Or you end up killing them"  
I remember telling her those words.  
The moment I was standing at the lone waiting shed,  
I thought of not continuing with my planned revenge.  
Why?  
Simple, I can't hurt her.  
No matter how painful the things she did to me,   
I can't hurt the person I like.

At that moment,   
I have decided that that would be the last time I'll see her.  
I have prepared myself to say goodbye and act as if our memories never existed.  
I know it will be hard but not impossible.  
I hope so...

I didn't expect her to come alone at the waiting shed.  
I already planned on sneaking at her bedroom.  
Just like what I used to do these past few days.  
I'd wake her up and talk with her peacefully.  
She'll listen to me.  
That's what I believed.

While sitting at the bench inside the waiting shed,  
Listening to the rustle of the leaves and the songs of the crickets.  
Gazing at the night sky.   
The moon was covered with night clouds.  
It was a starless night.  
I heard footsteps.  
I immediately hid at the back of the large tree across the road.

There, I saw her.  
She was catching her breath.  
She then sat down on the bench I was sitting on a while ago.  
When she finally calmed down she then looked at the night sky.  
Just like what I did.

I watched her for a while.  
She may be thinking of something happy.  
She was smiling as she was looking at the night sky.  
She occasionally wipes the tears falling from her eyes but she's still smiling.  
All of a sudden she stopped smiling and looked at her watch.  
She also looked around the shed.  
Her smile faded.  
Is it already time to come back to the house she's staying at?  
Maybe it's better if I talk to her right now.

A cold air blew against my skin.  
The leaves started to rustle.  
I stepped away from the darkness.  
I looked at the moon above us,  
It's no longer covered with clouds.  
Its light is already enough to make shadows.  
I can now see Pau looking at the road then to my direction.

She stood up.  
I can tell that she was crying.  
I stepped closer and I saw that she was smiling at me.  
I smiled back.

That was the time I realized that I'm a fool for her.  
As I stepped closer to cross the road between us.  
I felt a painful sensation on my shoulder.  
When I looked at it.  
Red liquid was starting to drench the pale shirt I'm wearing.  
I was bleeding.

I looked back at her,   
She was talking with a man in a black suit.  
After that another was fired at my direction.  
She had company all along.  
It was a trap.

With another bullet fired at me,  
I started running for my life.  
"You either end up leaving then for their own good;   
Or you end up killing them"  
These words replayed on my mind.  
I wanted to give her the first option,  
But I guess, she deserves the second one better.

The memory ended there.  
I guess the killing extravaganza started immediately after that.  
And now, I fortunately ended up in her house.

I placed her photo back on the bedside table.  
I stood up even though my wounds are still hurting.  
Which is odd because vampires heal faster.  
Almost instantly.  
Was this an effect of the bullet they used to me?  
Maybe I'm still recovering from the procedures they have done to me.  
I don't know.

I was on my way to the living room when I heard keys opening the front door.  
I guess, I'm really lucky today.  
She's now here.  
Pau's home.


	22. Chapter 22

22.  
Pau's POV

I opened my eyes.  
The brightness of the light above me is so blinding.  
I blinked several times.  
Then I started hearing faint beeps.  
Beeps of a life support machine.  
Why am I connected to a life support machine?  
Did something bad happen to me?

I tried moving my body.  
My muscles and joints refused to follow my will.  
It felt like I didn't have any control over my body.  
I started to panic.  
I don't know where I am,  
Why am I even here?

I then heard footsteps and muffled voices approaching my body.  
One of them walked near me.  
I tried looking at his face but a surgical mask is covering his face.  
"You're awake."  
His voice sounds familiar.  
Very, very familiar.

I looked at his eyes.  
I know who owns those reddish brown eyes.  
I know him very well.  
But why?

He pulled a vial of dark red liquid.  
The same one I injected him with when he was...  
When he was...  
When...  
When I killed him.

He transferred the contents of the vial to a syringe.  
He then injected the liquid to the IV connected to my wrist.  
It felt like hell.  
The liquid that's now running inside my system felt like lava.  
I felt it slowly burning away my arteries and veins.

I want to curl to and a ball and coax the pain,  
but I can't.  
I can't move my body,  
Not even an inch.

He then sat at the edge of the hospital bed.  
He removed the mask and looked at me.  
He smirked.  
A haunting one.  
"I bet you didn't expect that karma would arrive this fast."  
He said coldly.  
"You killed me, I'm just returning the favor."  
He added.

As he said those words, the pain became more unbearable.   
Everything became much much more painful.  
Then I started hearing the life support make an odd sound  
The flatline...  
But why?   
I'm still breathing.  
Am I?

People started swarming around me as if trying to revive me.  
But he,   
He just sat at the edge of the bed staring at me with those vengeful eyes.  
He then stood up.  
Grabbed the white blanket at my feet.  
He started laying it over my motionless body, as if covering it.  
When he reached my face he spoke.  
"You deserve this."  
And placed the white blanket over my face.  
I heard him saying my time of death, 11:37 pm.

Everything felt familiar,  
Until I realized that this is exactly how I killed him,  
With my own hands.

Everything then started to get blurry.  
The buzzing noise started to ring inside my head.  
Then I shut down.

I recovered consciousness after I felt a piece of cold soil hit my chest.  
I opened my eyes,  
Chunks of soil started hitting my face.  
It then dawned unto me,  
I'm being buried alive.  
I looked up at the people burying me.  
I wanted to tell them that I'm still alive, but I can't.  
My mouth wouldn't open.  
My muscles don't want to cooperate.

I felt so helpless.  
Tears then started falling from my eyes.  
This is hopeless.  
They're burying me alive and I can't do anything about it.

I had no choice but to look up.  
Hoping that one of the grave diggers will see that I'm still alive.  
Well, it didn't happen.

Then, he came back.  
He just stood there and looked at me.  
I'm sure that he knows that I'm still alive.  
But he just stood there.  
Watching the soil cover me.  
Watching me suffer.  
Why is he so heartless?  
Did I do something wrong?  
Did I?

Then I realized.  
Sejun might have felt this way...  
And it's all because of me.

At that moment,   
Cold soil started hitting my face.  
Is this really my end?  
But I'm just a human.  
More soil was covering my face.  
I just have to accept my tragic end.  
I indeed deserve this.  
I then closed my eyes.  
Sealing my faith under the soil's embrace.


	23. Chapter 23

23\.   
Pau's POV

I opened my eyes,  
I looked at the things around me.  
I'm still inside the secluded house.  
I'm still "safe".  
The officer assigned to guard me last night is still sitting beside the door.   
Unharmed.

It's just a nightmare...  
Again.  
For five days now,   
Since the shoot-out with Sejun,  
My nightmares started to get scarier.  
I always dreamt of Sejun wanting to kill me,  
And in those dreams,   
He succeeds in doing it.  
For five days now,  
I've died in my dreams five times.

I wiped the cold sweat from my forehead.  
I also wiped away the teardrops that are starting to form on my eyes.  
"Nothing could prepare me for that moment.  
If it happens,  
It happens."   
I told myself.

He can kill me if he wanted to,  
But It's already been five days.  
He was shot thrice.  
I saw him bleed.  
He's badly hurt.  
I don't know if he's plotting something,   
Or, worst case scenario,  
He's already dead.  
I shook my head after thinking about the second option.  
I hope that it doesn't happen.  
Please...

I can't let that happen.


	24. Chapter 24

24.  
Pau's POV

"Are you sure about this?  
We're still not sure that he's already dead.  
You can stay at the facility for the meantime.  
There are security officers who can protect you there."  
My Superior pleaded as he parked the car at the front of my house.  
I didn't answer him.

"We can't afford losing you."  
I shook my head and smiled sarcastically.  
"I know for certain that you're still hoping to catch him.  
And that you're totally upset that the people you sent to trap him ended up driving him away.  
You're just hoping that he'll visit me again at the facility.  
Then you will trap him.  
No one's using me as a bait anymore."  
I wanted to tell him those things but I held back.

"No, I'll stay at my house.  
He won't attack me.  
You saw it."  
I said as I opened the door to get out of the car.  
"I'll call you if something bad happens"  
"That will never happen"  
I told him at the back of my mind.  
I closed the door.  
I waited for the car to leave before turning around to face my gate.

Before opening the gate,  
I stepped back and looked at the facade of my house.  
It's a simple two storey house.  
I had a small garden that kept me busy during my free time.  
I have been living alone since I started working at the Facility.  
My parents and siblings are on the other side of the country.

I opened the gate and entered the premises.  
I saw some broken fences.  
Some of the plants need trimming.  
Spiders have already made their humble homes at some of the corners of the window frames.  
My house needs cleaning.  
It's been three weeks since I last stepped here.  
Just three weeks and it already looked like a mess.  
"What if I can't come home longer than that,  
Who would clean this?"

Then I stopped.  
"What if I can't come home longer than that..."  
I crinkle my forehead with that thought.  
Where will I go?  
I'm not going anywhere.  
I'm not leaving my house longer than that.  
"Silly me!"  
I told myself and laughed.

Since it's already getting dark,  
I switched the lights at my front porch.  
I fished the keys inside my bag.  
I then touched the knob of my front door.  
I placed the keys inside the keyhole and turned the knob.

Before entering the house,   
I looked at my door,  
The windows,  
The light fixtures above me.  
"I missed this house."  
I told myself.

Upon entering my house,   
Instantly, I felt that something was not right.  
The hair at the back of my neck stood up.  
It felt cold.  
That's weird.  
Also, my heart started beating faster.  
I felt nervous.

Without closing the door,  
I quietly put my bags down.  
I tried to look for anything that could protect me in the drawer near my door.   
All I found was a pair of shears.  
I should have called my superior to help me deal with this.  
But that didn't happen.  
It's my choice.

With shears placed in front of me, defense mode,  
I gathered all the courage I have left inside my body.  
I then began scanning the house.  
Starting with the living room.  
That is where I'm standing right now.  
Nothing seems out of place.

At the kitchen, nothing also appeared to be peculiar.  
I went to the guest room that's also downstairs,  
Everything's clear.  
What if I'm just being paranoid?  
What if it's just a sudden gust of wind or something.

Then, I went upstairs.  
I looked at my office,   
Nothing felt weird.  
Then, I went to my bedroom.  
My heart raced double time  
My knees turned to jelly.  
My body started shaking.

The windows were broken, shards of glass were everywhere.  
The curtains were shredded and lying on the floor.  
I looked at my bed.  
The sheets were full of blood stains.  
The picture frame with my photo was broken as well.

I took a step back.  
My brain's starting to lose all its focus.  
I'm starting to panic.   
Nothing can prepare me for this situation.

He is here.  
I'm not gonna lie,  
I'm scared.  
Really scared.

He may not have hurt me before,  
But something inside of me feels that tonight,  
Some things will follow a different path.  
It won't be the same.  
Some things will end differently tonight.

It seems like the wind wanted to take part with this tense moment.  
Gusts of wind started to blow.  
I felt the cold air passing through the broken window of my room.  
The shredded curtains billowing with it.  
With a loud thud,  
The front door closed violently as if saying,  
"No one's leaving this house tonight"

I don't know where to hide or to go.  
Was he on the first floor all this time?  
Where should I hide?  
Where should I lock myself?  
I tried to think rationally at this point.  
But I just can't.

Then, I just decided that I'll just lock myself inside my room.  
I went inside and locked the door.  
So, this is it, let's just wait for things to unfold.  
I positioned the shears in front of me,   
I know that it won't really be a big help,  
But at least, it's better than having nothing.

A couple of minutes passed but nothing happened.  
It felt like things calmed down.  
I placed my guard down and tried to relax a bit.  
I sighed.  
I removed the shears on defense mode and placed it on my side.

I'm still shaking,  
My eyes started to sting from the tears that are starting to flow down my cheeks.  
I felt tired.  
I felt drained.  
Maybe, I can sit,   
Even just for a while.

I turned around to do that.  
But when I did it,  
My whole body trembled.  
The shears that I'm holding,  
They're now on the floor.  
Fear took over my body.  
I couldn't move.  
I couldn't focus.  
I couldn't think straight.  
I'm scared.

There he was.  
He had been standing behind me.  
All this time.  
While I tremble with fear;   
He was just there, looking at me.  
He had this haunting smirk on his lips.

"You haven't changed at all.  
You still love locking yourself inside rooms, with me"   
He said.  
His voice, emotionless.


	25. Chapter 25

25.  
Pau's POV

"You haven't changed at all.  
You still love locking yourself inside rooms, with me"   
He said.  
He took a step forward.  
There were shattered glasses at his feet.  
I took a step back.  
Finally, my body started obeying me again.

"Have you run out of places to run away from me?"  
He asked in a sarcastic tone.  
He took another step closer.  
"Why, are you afraid of me?  
Did you do something terrible worthy of guilt?  
Did you regret doing it?  
Or..."  
He stopped.  
"Were you happy that you did it to me?"  
This time, it's not sarcastic at all.  
I can feel that there's anger in his voice.  
He took another step close.  
I did the same, backwards.

"Why do you have to kill me?"  
His expressions changed.  
Now, I can hear his pain.  
He was staring at me with pleading eyes.  
"You said, we can be together if I just wait a little longer."  
He asked as a tear rolled down his cheeks.

These questions.  
As much as I wanted to answer them,   
I can't.  
I just can't find the words to explain it to him.  
I wanted to save him.  
That's true.  
I wanted to keep my promise but I failed to do that.   
I just ended up killing him.  
It's all my fault.

"Why don't you answer me?  
Was this planned all along?  
Am I really just one of your experiments?"  
His eyes sorrowful.  
More tears fell from those reddish brown eyes.  
I wanted to wipe those tears away for him.  
But I can't have myself do it.  
I'm not worthy.

He took another step.  
I took another step back.  
I then realized that I'm on a dead end.  
My back's already touching the cold wall.  
He continued stepping closer to me until he's just inches away from me.

"Why?"  
He asked pleadingly.  
The tears on his eyes continued flowing like raindrops on a rainy day.  
He's more hurt than angry.  
I can see it in his eyes.

He took another step closer but I blocked him.  
I placed my arms in front of me,  
Accidentally touching his shoulders.  
I was shocked when he stepped back and held his shoulders.  
He looked hurt.  
It's as if I touched a fresh wound.

Wait.  
Flash back to the night he was shot.  
I looked at the area he's holding.  
That's where the first bullet hit him.  
I noticed that the top layer of blood on his jacket was still fresh.  
It seemed that he's still having a hard time moving his shoulders because of that.  
I also noticed his knuckles.  
They still have fresh scratches.  
Scratches from shattered glass.

If you don't know what's going on inside my brain,  
You'll surely hate me.  
I stood up straight and walked a bit closer to him.  
He looked at me.  
He's still holding the part of his shoulder that's been hurt.

"You're still bleeding"  
I said.  
I tried to sound intimidating.  
He looked at me with hopeful eyes.  
"Yes, I'm still bleeding."  
He answered me.  
"It's been five days, that's great."  
I excitedly told him while putting on a smile. 

"That's great?"  
He confusedly asked me.  
His expression changed from hopefulness to disbelief.  
"Are you that happy to see me bleed?"  
He asked me as another tear drop fell from his eyes.  
I nodded.  
He was lost for words.  
He couldn't say anything but you can tell that he didn't expect the answers I'm giving him.  
It's evident that I'm starting to mess with his mind.  
It's now obvious that he's hurting physically...  
And emotionally.

It's now or never,  
I told myself.  
While he's zoning out.  
I have to think of a way to finish this.  
I'm sorry if this is the only way I can think of.  
This is for the two of us.

With all the energy I have,  
I aimed for the bleeding part on his shoulder and pushed him.  
Again, he didn't expect it.  
He lost his balance and fell on the floor.  
I know that it won't really affect him   
But at least that can serve as a distraction.

After he fell to the floor,  
I aimed for the door beside me.  
Escaped through that.  
I then went to the nearest room,  
My office.  
As I closed the door,   
I heard him leaving my bedroom as well.

I'm a scientist,  
I should be smart enough to think of a way on how to get myself out of this situation.  
Well, I already thought of an idea,  
The chances of it going the way I wanted it to be is below 5%.  
But I still, needed to give it a try  
At this point,  
It's the best option.

I know it won't be long until he finds his way inside my office.  
But before that happens,   
I need to find four things inside my office.  
A vial of Sample S, Batch 19.  
A pen.  
A paper.  
And something sharp enough to make someone bleed.


	26. Chapter 26

26  
Sejun's POV

"You can't reason out with a vampire."  
She said.  
"You're wrong, you can't reason out with a person,   
Especially if they knew that you betrayed them."  
I answered back.  
"Person?  
You're a vampire.  
You're a monster."  
She snapped back.

I'm now inside her office.  
She locked herself inside it but I found the keys.  
She left it hanging at the front door.  
Together with her other keys.

She's now standing in front of me.  
Defenseless.  
If I wanted to hurt her right now.  
I can already do it.  
It would be easy.

She's afraid.  
I can see it.

"You know I hated vampires,  
I told you.  
Many many times already."  
She said.  
Her voice was shaky.

I took a step closer.  
She took a step back.  
However, she's again cornered between a wall and me.

"You believed in me.  
You said that being a vampire doesn't define me."  
You said that I'm more than just a vampire.  
What happened?"  
I asked her.  
"What happened to you?  
What happened to my Pau?"

Tears rolled from her eyes but she still kept a straight face.  
"You're just an experiment.  
Nothing more."  
She tried to sound intimidating.  
"I've always been this way.  
Those things that I told you.  
They're just part of a bigger test.  
It's all an illusion.  
Wake up!"

"If you want to kill me now.  
Let's cut the chase.  
Do it!"  
She said as tears continued flowing from her eyes.

"You're a bad liar.  
You know I can read you.  
You're just provoking me."  
I replied.

"I'm sorry but you're wrong.  
This is the real me.  
I just acted vulnerable.  
And you fell for that.  
I got what I wanted,  
Playing victim never fails.  
I do it all the time."  
The way she say those words,  
For a second,   
It made me doubt my judgement.  
What if this is really the true Pau?

"I'm sorry if you fell for that.  
My bad.  
But that's not my problem anymore.  
Falling in love's just a bad side effect.  
You'll get over it.  
But as for me,   
I'm used to it.  
It won't affect me."  
She finished.

"Falling in love's just a bad side effect..."  
Is love some kind of illness?  
Why do these words hurt so much?  
Yes I may be a vampire,  
But I have feelings too.  
These words,  
They're a different kind of torture.

"I don't believe you."  
I told her back,  
My voice wavered.  
Still denying the things I'm hearing.

"Then don't."  
She firmly said.

"I know you have many questions to ask me.   
That's why you followed me for days.  
You know what,   
Running away is tiring.  
Why don't we just end things here?"  
She added.  
I can feel the restlessness in her voice.

"You know that I'm a woman of few words.  
I won't explain anything to you.  
You have your ways to confirm things right?  
Why don't you do it now?"  
She said as she showed me her neck.

I don't know what she's doing,  
All I know is that she's messing with my mind.  
And with my feelings.  
And I hate it.

"Go ahead! Bite!"  
She shouted.

I shook my head and turned around.  
I started walking away from her.  
Right now I'm just confused.

"Well I'm right.  
You can't kill me.  
You can't even hurt me."  
She laughed.  
"You're too weak."

I returned from my grave so that I can deliver the best revenge.  
I wanted to haunt her.  
I wanted to take her to the grave with me.  
I wanted her to feel the pain that I felt.  
I wanted her to suffer the way I did.

But when I saw her again,  
All of the hate.   
The lies.   
The betrayal.  
All of them faded away.  
All I can see is the woman I cared for.  
The woman who showed how to be happy again.  
The woman who taught me how to love.

"Maybe You're not too bad at all..."  
“I’m getting more and more comfortable with you.It’s getting scary.”  
"Do you dance?"  
"We could talk normally like normal couples do?”  
"I think I like you..."

These memories...  
These are beautiful memories that you don't want to forget.  
I know that she felt the same way.  
But now,   
She's acting like all of these were made-up.  
Illusions.  
False emotions.  
I felt they were real.  
I know they were real.  
My heart told me so.

"You know for certain what I'm capable of doing.  
I can kill you if I want to."  
I told her.  
My back is still facing her.

"Then I dare you to do it."  
She said as she pulled me to face her.  
"Bite me!"  
She said.

"Is that what you really want?"  
I looked at her eyes.  
I didn't wait for her to respond.  
I pushed her against the wall and pinned her.  
She was shocked but she tried to keep a straight face.

"You wanted this badly."  
I said.  
She then slowly closed her eyes,  
I can hear her heavy breathing.  
I can feel her racing heart.  
I leaned closer.  
The veins on her neck look so inviting.  
Then,   
I bared my fangs and prepared to bite.


	27. Chapter 27

27.  
Sejun's POV

"I can, but I won't"  
I said as I loosened my grip on her shoulders.  
I then hugged her,   
She didn't fight back.  
I felt her crying.  
I hugged her tighter to comfort her.  
I can hear her sobs.

I then stepped back and looked at her.  
She opened her eyes.  
They were red and puffy from crying.  
She then pushed me away from her.

"Why don't you just bite me once and for all?  
I want this to end now.  
What painful words do you still want to hear?  
Just do it.  
Please."  
She said.  
Her voice was now pleading.

"Why are you being like this?  
Are you doing this for me?  
If yes, I don't want it."  
I told her.

I figured it out,  
She's trying to do something for me,  
And she's risking her life.  
I don't want her to do that.  
Even if it's for me,  
I don't want her to hurt herself.

"You're just a blood thirsty vampire!  
There's no hope for you!  
Look at you.  
Look at the stains on your clothes.  
How many people did you kill to get those."  
She again started saying words that might hurt me,  
But her expressions show the opposite.  
She wanted me to hurt her,  
But I know that she's doing it for me.

"No matter what you say,  
I won't hurt you."  
I told her.  
Her eyes were still full of tears.  
I turned my back and started to walk.

Then, I heard something breaking.  
Like a glass that's being shattered.

"If you won't do it,  
Then I'll make you do it!"  
She yelled.

I just shook my head in retribution.  
Then something happened.  
I started to smell something.  
Something that I can't say no to.

I turned around and looked at her.  
She was smiling.  
It was a beautiful smile.  
It was sincere.  
It was loving.

Then I looked at her hands.  
On her right hand was a large shard of glass from the vase she shattered.  
She raised her right hand.  
Dark red liquid was flowing from her palm.   
The droplets hit the floor.  
Drop. Drop. Drop.

Then, my mind started to go bonkers.  
All rationale abandoned me.  
Then, all of a sudden,  
I no longer knew who I was.


	28. Chapter 28

28.  
Pau's POV

"I'll make sure that I'll be an endless pain.  
And you can't even do something about it.  
Because, by that time,  
You're no longer working in the facility.  
Do you want that?"  
My Supperior told me.

Those were the words my supperior told me when I was found out.  
He found out that I'm trying to develop an antigen that will counteract the effects of vampirism to Sejun.  
That will hopefully turn him into a human.  
It was almost perfect.  
Almost.

When Sejun was turned over to me,   
My initial assignment was to make a research regarding the behavioral changes of vampires under different circumstances.  
Before becoming a scientist inside the facility,  
I was a hematologist and a biochemist.  
Why would someone like me study behavior?  
That's not my specialty.  
That's why I sneakily made my own study in the blood of vampires   
Most specially the revision of the effects of vampirism.

In the facility,  
They believed that the best way to eliminate vampires is killing them.  
Occasionally torturing them as well,   
So that they will spill the location of the other vampires.  
But for me, I have a different belief.  
Why kill them if you can turn them back to humans?  
In that way, we can study them better.  
No one would know their ways better than someone who had experienced it right?

When I met Sejun,   
It was fully for research purposes only.  
I even hated him at first,  
I thought vampires were all vicious.  
I once believed that they were just wild animals.  
Killing for entertainment,  
Hungry for blood.  
Now, I can confidently admit that I'm wrong.

Sejun was the sweetest person I knew.  
We became friends.  
We shared memories.  
We bonded.  
And soon something deeper happened.

That was the time that I sincerely wanted to perfect my project.  
I need to make him normal again.  
I'm not saying that He's not normal because he's a vampire.  
He wanted to become human again,  
And I want to make it happen.  
I want to help him.  
I want to make him happy.

Also, I'm very much aware that If he stayed the same,  
Us being together,   
Peacefully,  
It would be impossible.  
So I have to step up and solve things with my own hands.  
I'm a scientist after all.  
It would be hard doing it.  
But I know it's possible.

At that time,   
I also know that other than my own experiments with Sejun,  
The Facility is also making tests behind my back.  
They could have stopped there,  
But they were also torturing him.  
Behind my back.  
They were inhumane.  
Everytime I realize that Sejun had to suffer these extreme traumas,  
My heart just gets broken into pieces.

I tried stopping it,   
However, I don't have that kind of power and influence.  
He was starved of blood and was tortured.  
I thought, "Blood will surely help him recover."  
The least thing that I can do is to give him my blood.  
Or at least vials of it.

At first, he gladly took them.  
Little did he know that I'm mixing small amounts of antigens on the vials of my blood.  
Sneakily, I was trying to observe the effects of my experiments.  
Days passed, the tests looked fine.  
Some of his vampiric abilities started to subtle down.  
Mostly, it affected his senses.  
His reflexes got a bit slower.  
Healing wise, it did slow down.

Unfortunately, Sample S Batch 18 has several flaws.  
This sample just made Sejun weaker as the days passed.  
That was the reason why I stopped incorporating the antigen to my blood.  
At the same time, he also refused my blood.

The following weeks took a toll on him.  
He was still tortured.  
But I can't help him because he insisted that he doesn't need my blood.  
I also tried injecting him with my blood but he was stubborn.  
He told me that he won't drink my blood ever again.  
Because I'm his friend.  
Because he trusted me.  
But I broke it.

I started to worry for him.  
Soon, I have to connect him to a life support just to keep him with me.  
I realized, I'm running out of time.  
I need to save him before they lose patience and kill him against my will.

Maybe it was bad luck but that was the time they discovered my secret project.  
I had been working with a new antigen for Sejun, Sample S Batch 19.   
It had better findings but this is not yet finished.  
This is yet to be tested.

When they found out everything,  
Samples were destroyed and confiscated,   
Except for three vials.  
For security measures,   
I took one home and kept it safe inside my office.  
The two vials always stayed with me.  
I never imagined that I'd use them sooner than expected.


	29. Chapter 29

29.  
Pau's POV

"Sample S Batch 19"  
Said the labels on the two vials of liquid I'm holding.   
S for Sejun  
19, I had to experiment with 19 batches of his blood.  
Even though I'm still reluctant,   
I transferred them to a syringe. 

This is not yet tested.  
I don't know what will happen.  
I don't know the side effects.  
I only have a set of paper reports.  
It states that this formula might be the most effective among all of my samples.  
That it has the highest probability of reversing the effects of vampirism.  
But I'm afraid.

When I was figured out,  
I was so scared, not for me, but for Sejun.  
My superior said he'll make sure Sejun feels endless pain.  
That was too cruel of him.  
Sejun doesn't deserve that,  
I need to do something.  
But I have to be careful.

With two syringes of Sample S Batch 19 that I mixed with my own blood.  
I entered Sejun's room.  
I saw my colleague changing the IV's and checking the life support connected to Sejun.  
I stepped closer and looked at Sejun.

I don't think he could still recognize me.  
His eyes were looking blankly at the lights above him.  
He's not moving.  
He'd been like that for two days now.  
Seeing him this way, it felt like torture to me.

What's worse is I can't even help him.  
I can't even cheer him up.  
I can't even be by his side.  
I can't even tell him my honest feelings.  
If I become reckless and do something that's not calculated.  
I might end up losing him sooner.

I placed my hands inside the pockets of my lab gown.  
I held the syringes inside, tighter.  
I have no choice.

What if this formula kills him?  
What if this formula makes him more rabid.  
I don't know.  
I don't have any options.  
If I don't do it now and waited for several days or even hours,  
He might be gone by then.  
Tears started to form on my tear ducts.

"You're too motivated to keep him alive."  
Said my colleague who's now checking the tubes and life support connected to Sejun.  
These people, they're the real monsters.  
They were the people responsible for Sejun's tortures.  
They were heartless beasts who wanted to kill vampires,  
What for? Science? Experiments? Entertainment?  
But the Facility supported them.  
Pathetic.  
I will never be like them.  
But just this moment,  
I have to pretend that I'm one of them.

"He needs to die.  
He deserves it."  
My heart hurt as those words came out of my mouth.  
I'm sorry if you heard it Sejun.  
You know that I'm just lying right?  
You said you don't need to drink my blood to know that I'm lying.

"Things like him doesn't belong to this world,  
He's just an error that needs to disappear."  
You're not an error.  
You're just as perfect in your own way.  
It's just unfortunate that most people judge your kind.

"Why bother setting these machines if you intend on killing him?  
At this point we all know that if we left him at his cell,   
he'll soon expire."  
Said the man who's setting up the tubes connected to Sejun.

Expire soon?  
This was your own doing.  
My blood was boiling with anger but I had to hold it in.  
It's hard but I tried to keep a straight face.  
I looked at Sejun, he was looking at me.  
Tears nearly rolled down but I didn't let them fall.  
I need to.   
I have to.

"I want it to be a slow death.  
I want him to suffer.  
I want him to feel every inch of pain.  
And I want to do it myself,   
I want to see him die with my own eyes.  
He's just one of my experiments after all."

Sejun's listening.  
It must have been hard for him to listen to those words.  
I, too, am ashamed of myself for saying them.   
I looked at him,  
He still looked sickly but there was a confused look in his eyes.  
Tears were forming at the corners of his eyes. 

I almost broke down when I saw his hands trying to reach mine.  
"Pau"  
He said my name.  
Tears will soon fall if he keeps on doing this.  
He reached for the sleeve ends of my lab gown.

Don't do this Sejun.  
I looked at him.  
I really wanted to hold his hands.  
Take care of him until he recovers.  
Comfort him if he feels pain.  
But I can't.

If I broke my character now,  
I won't be able to come near him again.  
I have to act as if I don't care about him.  
If Sejun kept on doing this,  
I'll surely fail.  
And I can't let that happen.

"Don't touch me monster."  
I said as I shook his grip from the end of my lab gown sleeves.

"I'm sorry Sejun.   
Please don't believe these words.  
We've been doing this for a while now.  
I know you know that I'm just faking it."  
I wanted to tell him this.  
His eyes are now watery.  
Please don't believe everything I say.  
Please.

"I'm not a monster"  
He told me.  
I know,you're a gift that was sent to make me happy,

"Then what are you?  
A victim of our kind's misconception about vampires?  
Then why did you kill humans for survival?"  
I told him.  
I wanted to slap myself for saying those insensitive words.  
He just kept on looking at me.  
Puzzled and hurt.

"What happened to you?"  
He asked.  
He was heartbroken.  
I too was heartbroken.

"You're a fool."  
I'm the fool,   
From the beginning I know a love like this is impossible.  
But I embraced it.  
I don't have any regrets.

"You're just one of my experiments."  
You're not just an experiment.  
You're so much more than that.

"I no longer need you."  
I need you.  
I'm willing to do everything for you to survive.  
That's why I'm doing this.  
Just hang on a little bit.

"Just die."  
Please don't die.  
I know that we can't be together.  
I don't need it to be forever.  
I just need it to just be a little longer.

"And I mean it."  
And I mean it.

I said as I reached for a syringe filled with dark red liquid.  
I just hope that after I inject the antigen with my blood,  
He feels that everything I said right now are all lies.  
He said that vampires see memories as long as there is a strong emotional bond.   
I have a strong emotional connection with the things I just said.  
He did it several times in the past already.  
He felt my feelings accurately.  
I hope he feels my pain as every little lie came out of my mouth.

Around ten minutes after injecting the second vial of antigen.  
All of a sudden,   
The life support started making an odd sound  
Flatline...

People started swarming around Sejun as if trying to revive him.  
Then there I was,  
I was frozen like a statue.  
I was stuck staring at him as my colleagues rushed around him.  
I can't move.  
Until his last breath,  
He was still looking at me.  
The light on his eyes had already faded.

"Time of death, 11:37 PM."  
I heard someone say,  
It feels like the sky fell down on me.  
I fell on my knees and started crying my heart out.

He's gone.  
I can't believe it.  
I failed.  
It's all my fault.  
I just killed him.  
With my own hands.  
He died because of me.

I shouldn't have injected the antigens.  
Maybe I can reverse it?  
Maybe I can still revive him?  
I immediately stood up and ran towards him.

"I told you,  
Some things are not meant to be.  
Some things are not worth fighting for.  
Look at you,   
You're now miserable because of this vampire"  
Said a voice from my back.

He pushed me aside and started covering Sejun with a white blanket.  
"This is your fault.  
You administered an illegal antigen.  
You ended up killing the subject"  
He added.

"Compose yourself.  
This is your doing.  
You don't have any right to mourn,  
You did it yourself.  
You must be held accountable for this."

Yes, this is my doing.  
I must be held accountable.  
I must be only angry with myself.  
It was my idea after all.

After he was declared dead,   
He was immediately transferred to the facility morgue.  
I visited his body daily.  
Still hoping that one day,   
He'll wake up better than ever.  
And humanly as possible.  
This went on for about a month.

Just a fact,  
Vampires don't decompose.  
They just look as lively as ever,   
Except of course the vitals.

Many people think that I had gone insane.  
Some pitied me for what I was doing.  
Having a vampire and eventually a corpse as your boyfriend.  
It's not normal.  
It's hard to process.

"You need to move on Pau,  
This isn't healthy anymore.  
You're compromising our work.  
We will now bury his body."

I realized,  
Yes, maybe it's really time to set him free.  
It's been a month after all.  
I agreed,  
Then the unexpected happened.

He was declared dead right in front of my face.  
I mourned him.   
All this time, I thought I had killed him.  
But I was wrong.

He crawled back from his grave and came back for me.  
At first, I was happy.  
Then, I started to worry for my life.  
He's on a killing spree.  
I knew he was tracking me.  
Naturally, I would be scared.

It was a long chase.  
I tried running away from him.  
Eventually, we did meet again.  
But it won't be long until someone leaves.  
This time, I'm quite sure that it would be me.  
I deserve it after all.

***

So this is the time where your life comes flashing before your eyes.  
I'm now cradled in his arms.  
I gave him the letter I made before he found me at my office.  
He took it.  
I can still see him crying.  
He held my hands.

He's saying something.  
However, I can no longer hear his voice.  
That's too bad,  
I loved his voice.  
His sweet voice.

His face started to get blurry.  
I tried reaching for it.  
I want to touch it one last time.  
I want to remember it.  
I want my last memory to be a beautiful one.  
I want him to be that memory.

Then, little by little,   
I started feeling numb.  
I'm literally becoming lifeless now.  
I started gasping for air.  
Then everything was consumed by darkness.


	30. Chapter 30

30.  
Sejun's POV

A single white rose means many things.  
Hope, Respect, many other things.  
It also conveys everlasting love and devotion between two people.  
Especially if it's given in funerals.

I laid the single white rose on her cold hands.  
It doesn't matter how I got It.  
What's important is that I have given her one.  
She might have loved them.  
I'm sure of that.

She appreciates simple things.   
She sees the beauty in everything,  
No matter how ugly it is.  
That's one thing that makes her special.

Now I'm watching her sleeping again.  
Just like what I used to do.  
But this is a different kind of sleep,  
It is a sleep she'll never wake up from.

She's now lying on her bed.  
Lifeless.  
And it's all my fault.  
I took life away from her.  
Yet, she looks peaceful.

"You may now rest peacefully, my love"  
I said as tears fell from my eyes.  
I knelt beside her.  
Caressed her hair.  
Then, A hazy memory that will haunt me forever comes back.

***

"What have I done?"  
I only came back to my senses when I felt her hand gently touching my face.  
I looked at Pau.  
My arms were wrapped around her.  
But it was not in a gentle way.  
When I looked at her, she was bathing with her own blood.   
Automatically, tears started to fall down from my eyes.

I gently laid Pau's body down the floor.  
My knees felt like jelly.  
I then cradled her in my arms.  
I wanted to save her but it's too late.  
She already lost a large amount of blood.

"You either leave them for their own good,   
Or you end up killing them."  
I remember telling her those words.  
Unfortunately,  
The second one happened.

At that moment,   
My mind just shut down.  
I can't believe what I just did.  
I would never do that to her.  
But why?  
How come?  
I'm lost for words.  
All that I can do is hate myself.

Then she started moving.  
She was trying to hand me a piece of paper.  
I took it.  
She tried smiling.  
Then she started gasping for air.  
It was too painful to see her in that state.  
I could only close my eyes and hug her.  
After a while, she stopped.  
That was the time I knew I had lost her.

For minutes, I just sat there.  
My hands still wrapped around her.  
I just lost someone who's dear to me.  
With my own hands.   
I looked at my left hand.  
There was blood.  
Her blood.  
On my right,there was a piece of paper.  
I have already forgotten about that.

I then carried her to her room,   
And carefully laid her on her bed.  
I sat beside her and opened the piece of paper she gave me. 

"Hi Sejun, My love..."  
Reading the first line just made my heart sink deeper.  
This was a letter for me.

"Hi,   
It's been a while.   
I'm really happy to see you.  
It's just sad that, maybe, by the time you're reading this,  
I'm no longer with you."

"I have a good news,  
Remember your gunshot wound?  
It's not yet okay right?  
I believe that you're healing just like humans do.  
Slowly.  
I think you'll become human soon.  
It will take a while,  
But I'm sure you'll become human soon."

"You see, for the medicine to take effect,   
It needs to be mixed with a large amount of blood.  
Luckily, I have a vial of antigen in my office.  
I injected it to myself.  
The only thing left is you to drink my blood.  
That's why I said those painful words so you'll get angry.  
You should know by now that I don't mean them."

I shook my head as I read that part.  
I was right, it was for me after all.

"Sejun.  
If ever I don't survive.  
Please don't think that you killed me.  
Please think of this as me keeping my promise.  
Before you left,  
I promised you that I'll make you human again.  
At first I thought I failed and ended up killing you."

"I know that it will be hard for you,  
But at least if my calculations were correct,   
You can become human again.  
You can live normally."

"I won't be with you by then,  
But I'll always be in your memory.  
You have a good memory right?"  
Sejun, I l..."

Then the letter ended.  
That was the time I found the keys to her office.  
Then, 'that' happened.

I closed the letter.  
I just can't express how devastated I felt.  
If my broken heart can still be broken further,  
It will be like that.

When I rose back from the dead all I wanted was revenge.  
I blamed her for everything.  
I accused her of betraying me.  
I accused her of lying to me.  
I accused her of killing me.  
I never thought that behind these painful things,  
She was trying to find a way to save me.

All this while,   
I thought that she was the enemy.  
I just thought about the pain I felt.  
I thought I was the victim.  
In reality I was really the bad guy.

I just focused on revenge.  
As if I didn't lied to her  
As if I didn't use her so that I can have her blood.  
I was so focused on wanting her to suffer;  
That I failed to see what's more important.

I failed to remember all of the nice memories we shared.  
The things she did for me while I was inside that prison.  
The devotion she had to develop a cure for me.  
All of these beautiful things.  
In reality, I'm the one who needs to be punished.  
I became what she doesn't want me to be.

That letter just made me realize how unfortunate we were.  
It was a relationship we didn't expect.  
It was tragic but it was beautiful.  
How I wish I could go back to those yesterdays.  
I would trade all my tomorrows just to have relive one of those yesterdays.

"I won't be with you by then,  
But I'll always be in your memory.  
You have a good memory right?"  
I don't need fake vampire magic   
Nor make-believe blood connections.  
The memories we shared were enough to remember her for as long as I live.  
They were short and simple,  
But they truly left a mark on my heart.

Some will say that everything is just an illusion.  
But we really didn't care.  
We were each other's sweetest illusions.  
I was her only friend,  
She was my dream,  
It just happened that we met in the wrong time and in the wrong place.  
It was an accidental connection.  
A fortuitous love.  
From now on, All of my nights will be starless.  
For she was my lone star when my skies are the darkest.


	31. Chapter 31

31\.   
Final  
Pau's POV

Someone said that death comes to you in the form of your fondest memory.  
But this one, this is not a memory.  
This is a dream  
This is something you wish to happen.

I am standing alone in the middle of a field full of small white flowers.  
I can smell their floral and woody scent.  
I looked at the sun above me.  
It wasn't too hot, nor too cold.  
It was just the right weather.

I'm holding a single white rose.  
I closed my eyes to feel the fresh breeze.  
My floral dress was billowing with it.  
Then, I heard someone calling my name.  
"Pau"  
It was a familiar voice.

I looked at my back and saw him.  
He was wearing a light lavender pullover and white pants.  
The wind was blowing his hair.  
He's quite far but he's slowly making his way towards me.  
Smiling.  
It was the same smile he gave me when he first told me his name, Sejun.

As he walked closer and closer,  
I slowly noticed that the flowers and leaves around us changed colors.  
Colorful ones to faded tones then back to colorful ones.  
They were changing just like the seasons.  
They're getting older.  
Just like us. 

When he was already in front of me,  
I brushed the white strands of hair away from his face.  
He smiled.  
There were now wrinkles on the side of his eyes.

He then held my hands.  
I looked at them,  
I looked at our hands.  
Both of them looked withered with old age,  
But the rings on our fingers never aged.

He looked at my eyes,  
Touched my hair,  
and kissed me at my forehead.

"Please be okay.."  
I said as he continued looking at me with his brown eyes.  
They were full of sadness.  
Tears were now falling.

"Promise me..."  
I told him.

"I promise"  
He nodded.

I let go of his hand.  
But he didn't let go of mine.  
He pulled me closer and embraced me tightly.  
We stood like that for a while.

Then, finally he let go.  
I kissed him for the last time and turned away.  
I walked forward without looking back.  
I looked at the horizon.

It's impossible for us to be together,  
That's obvious from the beginning.  
But why did I continue?  
Well you really can't help it, it's love.  
It hits you when it hits you.  
You can't choose whom you'll fall in love with.  
It'll just surprise you.  
Then you'll soon realize,   
You're falling to the person you least expect.  
In my case,  
I fell in love with an enemy.  
I fell in love with a vampire.

Talking about surprises,  
One of them is me choosing to die in his arms.  
Some of you may think that it's cruel and selfish.  
Knowing for certain that he'll end up blaming himself.  
Yes, I am selfish  
But I did it to give him another chance in life.  
I once stole it away from him.  
I'm just giving it back.

If he became human again.  
He can go to a faraway place and start anew.  
I may not be with him by then,  
But I'm sure he'll be okay.  
He's strong, I know it.

As for me,   
With all the trouble I have done.  
People will be after me.  
I'd rather die in his arms.  
At least I died with a cause.

I walked farther away  
And for the last time,   
I looked back at him.  
I waved my hands  
He did the same.

Everything I did with him,  
Especially the small things.  
They all have strong emotional connections.  
Happiness.  
They all made me happy.  
Very very happy.

I looked back at the horizon.  
Took one last breath.  
Closed my eyes.  
And I was gone...


	32. Chapter 32

Epilogue

Sejun's POV

"Where did you get this?"  
She asked me as I gave her a tiny white bloom.  
She was smiling. 

"The dark room"  
Her expression changed.  
That's the room where I get tortured.

"When did they put you back there?"  
She asked.  
Her expression is protective.  
"Tell me."  
She insisted.

"It doesn't matter when.  
I'm okay now."  
I lied.   
I don't feel okay.  
I feel like I'm slowly deteriorating.  
I felt like dying.

"I wanted to give you something.  
Maybe a rose.  
But I can't get them in my situation."  
I told her while trying to look strong.  
She's already having a hard time.  
She has problems.  
And I don't want to add up to those.

"While I was inside,  
I saw this white flower.  
It may be tiny but it's still beautiful."  
I told her.  
She smiled.

"Yes, it's indeed beautiful.  
But do you know what this is?  
I'm not really sure what's the name,  
But it's not a flower,  
It's a weed."  
She said, holding her laugh.

It's weird to find something growing in that dark room.  
Weird but not impossible.  
Just like what I found inside the thick walls of my cell.  
Her.  
Love. 

"But still,   
I'm keeping it."  
She said as she took her handkerchief out.  
She carefully wrapped the bloom.

Finding that small bloom inside that dark room is just like us.  
We found each other in the most unexpected place.  
I was once in the darkest time of my life.  
It always felt like a dark starless night.  
Then something beautiful arrived.  
Something unexpected.  
She brought light on my darkest moments.  
She was the bloom inside the dark room.  
She was my star on a starless night.  
She was my Pau.

I came back to my senses when she spoke.  
"You have to promise me that next time,  
You'll give me a proper flower.  
Rose?  
A single White rose."

I nodded.  
That's a promise that's yet to happen.

***

I laid the single white rose on her cold hands.  
This is the least I could do for her.  
She sacrificed herself to fulfill a promise.  
I should at least grant this promise of mine.

It's been minutes since I bawled my eyes out beside her.  
I have also read the letter she left me.  
Then, I saw another frame at her bedside table.  
It was the white bloom I gave her.

Then, I remembered my promise.  
A single white rose.  
Luckily, I found a flower shop several blocks away.  
You won't like what I did just to get that rose.  
I'll do anything to have that.  
I'm desperate.

I knelt beside her.  
Caressed her hair.  
I looked at her face.  
Still memorizing all of her features.  
Just a glimpse of her one last time.

Why do you have to die?  
You should have told your plans to me.  
I don't want to be human if it meant that I won't be seeing you again.  
How do you expect me to live happily now?

Right then, I heard noises from the first floor.  
I can hear a clunking on the gates.  
I can hear several voices.  
They're here.

I leaned closer.  
Kissed her forehead.  
Kissed her lips.  
Took a last glimpse of her face.  
And ran away...


	33. Chapter 33

Epilogue II

Superior's POV

I arrived at Pau's house right before dawn.  
I hopped out of my car and went inside her house.  
I have already found some of my people at the scene.  
They were investigating what had happened.

"Sir."  
One of my people called me to come inside one of the rooms.  
It was Pau's bedroom.  
She was laying peacefully on her bed.  
But she was pale.  
There was a bite mark on her neck.

Pau's already gone.  
She was murdered by the vampire we were hunting.  
I didn't really expect him to kill her.  
I thought they were special to each other.  
I guess vampires will always be vampires.

"Another one down."  
Said one of the head scientists.  
He was the head of the team that investigated what had happened to the scene.  
He's actually one of my colleagues.  
We started working at the Facility at the same time.  
But I got promoted first.  
That's why I'm his boss.  
I'm the boss.

"If you just turned over the vampire to me on the first place,  
This wouldn't have happened,  
Josh..."  
He sarcastically smirked.

I looked at him.  
Crossed my hands in front of my chest.  
"We might be colleagues,  
But this is not a first name basis type of office.  
I'm still the boss.  
Call me Supperior."

"Sir, we found something."   
Said one of my teammates.   
He was holding a piece of paper.   
I walked closer and took the paper.   
This was Paul's hand writing.   
I read what's written. 

"Call all of your best men.   
We'll be having a vampire hunt."

END

**Author's Note:**

> Other Books on the Series  
> Starless Eyes (Book1)  
> The Archives: Notes by Serin (A Prologue to Book 2)  
> Project K (Book 2)  
> Witness (A Prologue to Book 3)   
> Summertime (Book 3)


End file.
